Rapid and robust control of single quantum dots

Nicolò Accanto; Pablo M de Roque; Marcial Galvan-Sosa; Sotirios Christodoulou; Iwan Moreels; Niek F van Hulst

doi:10.1038/lsa.2016.239

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Rapid and robust control of single quantum dots

Original Articles

- Rapid and robust control of single quantum dots
- Light: Science & Applications Vol. 6, Issue 2, (2017)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.ICFO - Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, 08860 Castelldefels (Barcelona), Spain
  2.Instituto de Óptica-CSIC, 28006 Madrid, Spain
  3.Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 16163 Genova, Italy
  4.Department of Physics, University of Genova, 16146 Genova, Italy
  5.ICREA - Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, 08010 Barcelona, Spain
- Author bio：
  
  N Accanto, Email: nicolo.accanto@parisdescartes.fr
  PM de Roque, Email: Pablo.deRoque@ICFO.eu
  NF van Hulst, Email: Niek.vanHulst@ICFO.eu
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1038/lsa.2016.239
  CLC：
- Published：2017-06，
  
  Published Online：28 September 2016，
  
  Received：21 April 2016，
  
  Revised：07 September 2016，
  
  Accepted：26 September 2016
- Accepted：
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Accanto, N. et al. Rapid and robust control of single quantum dots. Light: Science & Applications, 6, e16239 (2017).
DOI：

Accanto, N. et al. Rapid and robust control of single quantum dots. Light: Science & Applications, 6, e16239 (2017). DOI： 10.1038/lsa.2016.239.

摘要

Abstract

The combination of single particle detection and ultrafast laser pulses is an instrumental method to track dynamics at the femtosecond time scale in single molecules

quantum dots and plasmonic nanoparticles. Optimal control of the extremely short-lived coherences of these individual systems has so far remained elusive

yet its successful implementation would enable arbitrary external manipulation of otherwise inaccessible nanoscale dynamics. In ensemble measurements

such control is often achieved by resorting to a closed-loop optimization strategy

where the spectral phase of a broadband laser field is iteratively optimized. This scheme needs long measurement times and strong signals to converge to the optimal solution. This requirement is in conflict with the nature of single emitters whose signals are weak and unstable. Here we demonstrate an effective closed-loop optimization strategy capable of addressing single quantum dots at room temperature

using as feedback observable the two-photon photoluminescence induced by a phase-controlled broadband femtosecond laser. Crucial to the optimization loop is the use of a deterministic and robust-against-noise search algorithm converging to the theoretically predicted solution in a reduced amount of steps

even when operating at the few-photon level. Full optimization of the single dot luminescence is obtained within ~100 trials

with a typical integration time of 100 ms per trial. These times are faster than the typical photobleaching times in single molecules at room temperature. Our results show the suitability of the novel approach to perform closed-loop optimizations on single molecules

thus extending the available experimental toolbox to the active control of nanoscale coherences.

关键词

Keywords

closed-loop controlcoherent controlsingle quantum dottwo-photon luminescenceultrafast

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