Semiconductor Cavity QED

University Of Arizona, Tucson AZ

Investigators

Abstract

This experimental research program capitalizes on the emerging capability to investigate a semiconductor nanosystem (cavity/dot) where individual quanta play a decisive role. The plan is to see the effects of quantum Rabi oscillations much clearer. Even though the level transitions of a single quantum dot are similar to an atom's, Coulomb effects are ever present in a semiconductor; they are likely to provide interesting twists, as they have in the quantum well microcavity. The observation of photon/dot entanglement will be important. Proposed are both resonant and nonresonant excitation by both femtosecond pulses and continuous-wave beams. In short, this new structure will be excited and its response detected in all possible ways: changing the power and looking for the transition from the quantum to the semiclassical regimes, measuring correlations, decoherence time, lasing threshold, and optical bistability fluctuations. The broader impact of the program involves education as well as applications in the nanophotonics industry.