title: A bright triggered twin-photon source in the solid state.
abstract: A non-classical light source emitting pairs of identical photons represents a versatile resource of interdisciplinary importance with applications in quantum optics and quantum biology. To date, photon twins have mostly been generated using parametric downconversion sources, relying on Poissonian number distributions, or atoms, exhibiting low emission rates. Here we propose and experimentally demonstrate the efficient, triggered generation of photon twins using the energy-degenerate biexciton-exciton radiative cascade of a single semiconductor quantum dot. Deterministically integrated within a microlens, this nanostructure emits highly correlated photon pairs, degenerate in energy and polarization, at a rate of up to (234±4) kHz. Furthermore, we verify a significant degree of photon indistinguishability and directly observe twin-photon emission by employing photon-number-resolving detectors, which enables the reconstruction of the emitted photon number distribution. Our work represents an important step towards the realization of efficient sources of twin-photon states on a fully scalable technology platform.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Festkörperphysik, Technische Universität Berlin, Hardenbergstraße 36, 10623 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Heindel
authors.affiliation: Institut für Festkörperphysik, Technische Universität Berlin, Hardenbergstraße 36, 10623 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thoma
authors.affiliation: Institut für Festkörperphysik, Technische Universität Berlin, Hardenbergstraße 36, 10623 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: von Helversen
authors.affiliation: Institut für Festkörperphysik, Technische Universität Berlin, Hardenbergstraße 36, 10623 Berlin, Germany.|Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Abbestraße 2-12, 10587 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.affiliation: Institut für Festkörperphysik, Technische Universität Berlin, Hardenbergstraße 36, 10623 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schlehahn
authors.affiliation: Institut für Festkörperphysik, Technische Universität Berlin, Hardenbergstraße 36, 10623 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gschrey
authors.affiliation: Institut für Festkörperphysik, Technische Universität Berlin, Hardenbergstraße 36, 10623 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: P
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8478-5006
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schnauber
authors.affiliation: Institut für Festkörperphysik, Technische Universität Berlin, Hardenbergstraße 36, 10623 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: J-H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Schulze
authors.affiliation: Institut für Festkörperphysik, Technische Universität Berlin, Hardenbergstraße 36, 10623 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Strittmatter
authors.affiliation: Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Abbestraße 2-12, 10587 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Beyer
authors.affiliation: Institut für Festkörperphysik, Technische Universität Berlin, Hardenbergstraße 36, 10623 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rodt
authors.affiliation: Institut für Theoretische Physik, Technische Universität Berlin, Hardenbergstraße 36, 10623 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carmele
authors.affiliation: Institut für Theoretische Physik, Technische Universität Berlin, Hardenbergstraße 36, 10623 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Knorr
authors.affiliation: Institut für Festkörperphysik, Technische Universität Berlin, Hardenbergstraße 36, 10623 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Reitzenstein