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Programme Grant Support

We have recently (January 2012) received new five year funding from the EPSRC, entitled Semiconductor Integrated Quantum Optical Circuits, to develop the physics and technology to enable the realisation of Semiconductor Integrated Quantum Optical Circuits.

Prototype quantum optical circuit showing key components, based on GaAs-materials.

Prototype quantum optical circuit showing key components, based on GaAs-materials.

Overview of the Project

The Programme Grant funded by EPSRC targets the first Semiconductor Integrated Quantum Optical Circuits, shown schematically in the figure above. This goal aims to bring to fruition many of the key advances at the level of single component III-V nanostructures, opening up long term exploitation in diverse fields of quantum information science. Towards this global target we anticipate ground breaking achievements in semiconductor physics and solid-state quantum optics. Furthermore, major technology developments will be driven by our programme including deterministic positioning of quantum dots and integration of superconducting single photon detectors on semiconductor chips.

To achieve our aims we have assembled a specially-selected team of investigators from the University of Sheffield, and from the Universities of Cambridge, Heriot-Watt and Lancaster. The non-Sheffield teams are led by D A Ritchie, R H Hadfield and V Falko respectively. Together they provide a very wide spread of expertise to achieve our goals. Our expertise is further enhanced by our links with the National Centre for III-V Technologies at Sheffield, providing access to high-class crystal growth and device processing.

The investigators of the grant are:

  1. Sheffield: M S Skolnick (PI), A M Fox, P Kok, D N Krizhanovskii, A I Tartakovskii, D M Whittaker, L R Wilson.
  2. Cambridge: D A Ritchie
  3. Heriot Watt: R H Hadfield
  4. Lancaster: V I Falko.

There will be six postdoctoral researchers working on the grant in Sheffield, and one each in the other three institutions, and up to 12 PhD students whose research will be devoted to Programme grant topics.

A selection of our recent results which will enable the new programme can be found by clicking on the following links:

  1. Self-Assembled Quantum Dots
  1. Polariton Phenomena in Semiconductor Microcavities
  1. Nano-Optics
  1. Theory of Photonic Crystals and Microcavities

and by consulting the following papers:

  1. 1. Phonon-induced Rabi frequency renormalization of optically driven single InGaAs/GaAs quantum dots.
    A.J. Ramsay, T.M. Godden, S.J. Boyle, E.M.Gauger, A. Nazir, B.W. Lovett, A.M. Fox, M.S Skolnick
    Physical Review Letters 105 177402 (2010) http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.177402
  1. 2. Polarization Bistability and Resultant Spin Rings in Semiconductor Microcavities
    D. Sarkar, S. S. Gavrilov, M. Sich, J. H. Quilter, R. A. Bradley, N. A. Gippius, K. Guda, V. D. Kulakovskii, M. S. Skolnick, and D. N. Krizhanovskii
    Physical Review Letters 105 21 216402 (2010) http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.216402
  1. 3. Splitting and lasing of whispering gallery modes in quantum dot micropillars
    B.D. Jones, M. Oxborrow, V.N. Astratov, M. Hopkinson, A. Tahraoui, M.S. Skolnick, and A.M. Fox
    Optics Express 18 21 22578 (2010) http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-18-21-22578
  1. 4. Mode structure of coupled L3 photonic crystal cavities
    A. R. A. Chalcraft, S. Lam, B. D. Jones, D. Szymanski, R. Oulton, A. C. T. Thijssen, M. S. Skolnick, D. M. Whittaker, T.  F. Krauss, A. M. Fox
    Optics Express 19 5670 (2011) http://www.opticsinfobase.org/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-19-6-5670
  1. 5. Direct Measurement of the Hole-Nuclear Spin Interaction in Single InP/GaInP Quantum Dots Using Photoluminescence Spectroscopy
    E. A. Chekhovich, A. B. Krysa, M. S. Skolnick, and A. I. Tartakovskii
    Physical Review Letters 106 027402 (2011) http://prl.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v106/i2/e027402
  1. 6. Unpolarized H1 photonic crystal nanocavities fabricated by stretched lattice design
    I. J. Luxmoore, E. Daghigh Ahmadi, A. M. Fox, M. Hugues, and M. S. Skolnick
    Applied Physics Letters 98 041101 (2011) http://apl.aip.org/resource/1/applab/v98/i4/p041101_s1
  1. 7. Suppression of Zeeman Splitting of the Energy Levels of Exciton-Polariton Condensates in Semiconductor Microcavities in an External Magnetic Field
    7. P. Walker, T. C. H. Liew, D. Sarkar, M. Durska, A. P. D. Love, M. S. Skolnick, J. S. Roberts, I. A. Shelykh, A. V. Kavokin, D. N. Krizhanovskii
    Physical Review Letters 106 257401 (2011) http://prl.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v106/i25/e257401
  1. 8. Fast control of nuclear spin polarization in an optically pumped single quantum dot
    M. N. Makhonin, K. V. Kavokin, P. Senellart, A. Lemaître, A. J. Ramsay, M. S. Skolnick, A. I. Tartakovskii
    Nature Materials 10 844-848 (2011) http://www.nature.com/nmat/journal/v10/n11/full/nmat3102.html
  1. 9. Observation of bright polariton solitons in a semiconductor microcavity
    M. Sich, D. N. Krizhanovskii, M. S. Skolnick, A. V. Gorbach, R. Hartley, D. V. Skryabin, E. A. Cerda-Méndez, K. Biermann, R. Hey, P. V. Santos
    Nature Photonics 6 50-55 (2012) http://www.nature.com/nphoton/journal/v6/n1/abs/nphoton.2011.267.html
Last updated Monday, 20th May 2013