Dots and cavities
Quantum dots are artificial atoms, trapping electrons in tiny volumes of semiconducting material. Like natural atoms, they normally interact only weakly with light; this IRC project will pursue the dream of placing such artificial atoms within highly-tuned cavities so that their interaction with the light is dramatically enhanced. One valuable result of this work will be "single-photon" sources, which can reliably produce a single light particle (photon) in response to an electrical signal. But it will also enable us to demonstrate the controlled transfer of quantum information between the quantum dot and a single photon, and vice versa.
For further information please contact Maurice Skolnick (Sheffield) at mailto:m.skolnick@sheffield.ac.uk
Electron micrograph of a "pillar" structure of the type that would be used in the project. Each pillar acts as a cavity to confine light and enhance its interaction with the quantum dot (the ends of the pillar form the mirrors confining light to the cavity, and the quantum dot is visible as a pale band in the centre of the structure).