Single-photon emitters are at the heart of quantum optics and photonic quantum-information technologies. Identifying and characterizing such quantum emitters requires sophisticated experimental physics. In this experimental master end project, we aim to design and build an optical setup that allows for the characterization of single photon sources. More specifically, we aim to build a setup that allows for photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy and second-order autocorrelation (g(2)) measurements of single-photon emission (SPE).
The initial design of the optical setup is based on that of a micro-photoluminescence setup and optimized for single-photon emission from indium arsenide phosphide (InAsP) quantum dots (QDs). This design therefore includes a continuous-flow liquid-helium cryostat, and a high resolution monochromator that can be used to extract the emission line of a single QD transition.
The final version of the experimental setup is demonstrated to be able to perform high resolution PL spectroscopy measurements. g(2) Measurements are performed on room temperature hexagonal Boron Nitride (hBN) SPE using a free-space Hanbury-Brown and Twiss (HBT) interferometer containing two geiger-mode avalanche photodiodes (APDs) indicating pronounced photon antibunching. Due to malfunctioning of the cryostat, however, measurements have exclusively been performed at room temperature.