title: Giant photon bunching, superradiant pulse emission and excitation trapping in quantum-dot nanolasers.
abstract: Light is often characterized only by its classical properties, like intensity or coherence. When looking at its quantum properties, described by photon correlations, new information about the state of the matter generating the radiation can be revealed. In particular the difference between independent and entangled emitters, which is at the heart of quantum mechanics, can be made visible in the photon statistics of the emitted light. The well-studied phenomenon of superradiance occurs when quantum-mechanical correlations between the emitters are present. Notwithstanding, superradiance was previously demonstrated only in terms of classical light properties. Here, we provide the missing link between quantum correlations of the active material and photon correlations in the emitted radiation. We use the superradiance of quantum dots in a cavity-quantum electrodynamics laser to show a direct connection between superradiant pulse emission and distinctive changes in the photon correlation function. This directly demonstrates the importance of quantum-mechanical correlations and their transfer between carriers and photons in novel optoelectronic devices.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Bremen, 28334 Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jahnke
authors.affiliation: Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Bremen, 28334 Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gies
authors.affiliation: Experimentelle Physik II, Technische Universität Dortmund, 44221 Dortmund, Germany.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aßmann
authors.affiliation: Experimentelle Physik II, Technische Universität Dortmund, 44221 Dortmund, Germany.
authors.forename: Manfred
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bayer
authors.affiliation: Institute for Theoretical Physics, Otto-von-Guericke University of Magdeburg, 39016 Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: H A M
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Leymann
authors.affiliation: Institute for Theoretical Physics, Otto-von-Guericke University of Magdeburg, 39016 Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Foerster
authors.affiliation: Institute for Theoretical Physics, Otto-von-Guericke University of Magdeburg, 39016 Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wiersig
authors.affiliation: Technische Physik, University of Würzburg, 97074 Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.affiliation: Technische Physik, University of Würzburg, 97074 Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kamp
authors.affiliation: Technische Physik, University of Würzburg, 97074 Würzburg, Germany.|School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, KY16 9SS St Andrews, UK.
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Höfling