event
Thursday 08 May 2014: Coupling electron spin and light spin: the surprising results of doing cavity QED with artificial atoms
Dr Ruth Oulton - Deptarments of Physics and Electrical Engineering, University of Bristol
HAR/170 (3D Visualisation Suite) 14:00-15:00
Quantum dots are semiconductor artificial atoms. They are nanoscale structures that trap single electrons and holes, and their quantized energy level structure results in atomic-like transitions and single photon emission. These quantum dots act as a solid-state interface that is useful for quantum information applications, and for the past decade, semiconductor physicists have been attempting to replicate atomic cavity quantum electrodynamics in a practical semiconductor form. One can embed quantum dots into micron-sized photonic structures to capture and control the light emission, in order to use the single photon emission in quantum communication and quantum circuits. I will discuss our latest research into how quantum dots and photons interact, focussing in particular on the complex interplay between photon polarization information and electron spins in the quantum dot.