Addressing global challenges such as good health and well-being, affordable and clean energy and climate action requires new solutions brought about by new technologies. As example, the development of new drugs in the health sector currently relies on expensive time-consuming trial-and-error studies. The introduction of new drugs can be greatly accelerated using computer simulations of their effects, however this requires solutions of complex quantum chemical problems, which are intractable for the supercomputers existing today. Here, quantum technology offers a solution in the form of the quantum computer, offering unprecedented computational power, as required for drug design in the health sector.
In an optical quantum computer, the quantum information (the quantum bit) is encoded on a photon, which is the smallest particle of light according to quantum mechanics. A key component in an optical quantum computer is thus a single-photon source, which can emit single quanta of light carrying the information. However, producing a single photon in a controlled manner represents a huge scientific challenge.
In this project, we aim at producing single photons in a highly controlled deterministic manner by employing semiconductor quantum dots placed in carefully engineered nanostructures. The quality of the emitted photons is characterized by the purity of the photons, the overall efficiency of the emission and collection processes as well as the indistinguishability (“identicalness”) of the emitted photons. Using advanced numerical simulations, we will design and predict the performance of nanostructures based on a vertical “hourglass” geometry shown in the image. We will then fabricate the devices and characterize them in our quantum optics laboratory. The objective is to produce photons of far better quality than what can be achieved today, as needed for the construction of the optical quantum computer.
