Atomically-thin single-photon sources for quantum communication
Source abstract
Abstract
Abstract To date, quantum communication widely relies on attenuated lasers for secret key generation. In future quantum networks, fundamental limitations resulting from their probabilistic photon distribution must be overcome by using deterministic quantum light sources. Confined excitons in monolayers of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) constitute an emerging type of emitter for quantum light generation. These atomically thin solid-state sources show appealing prospects for large-scale and low-cost device integration, meeting the demands of quantum information technologies. Here, we pioneer the practical suitability of TMDC devices in quantum communication. We employ a WSe 2 monolayer single-photon source to emulate the BB84 protocol in a quantum key distribution (QKD) setup and achieve click rates of up to 66.95 kHz and antibunching values down to 0.034—a performance competitive with QKD experiments using semiconductor quantum dots or color centers in diamond. Our work opens the route towards wider applications of quantum information technologies using TMDC single-photon sources.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Quantum Information and Cryptography · Quantum optics and atomic interactions · 2D Materials and Applications
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
References (58)
Show source-provided references
1. Kimble, H. J. The quantum internet. Nature 453, 1023–1030 (2008).10.1038/nature07127 ↗
2. Wang, X.-B. Beating the photon-number-splitting attack in practical quantum cryptography. Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 230503 (2005).10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.230503 ↗
3. Ma, X., Qi, B., Zhao, Y. & Lo, H.-K. Practical decoy state for quantum key distribution. Phys. Rev. A 72, 012326 (2005).10.1103/PhysRevA.72.012326 ↗
4. Aharonovich, I., Englund, D. & Toth, M. Solid-state single-photon emitters. Nat. Photonics 10, 631–641 (2016).10.1038/nphoton.2016.186 ↗
5. Michler, P. et al. A quantum dot single-photon turnstile device. Science 290, 2282–2285 (2000).10.1126/science.290.5500.2282 ↗
6. Tomm, N. et al. A bright and fast source of coherent single photons. Nat. Nanotechnol. 16, 399–403 (2021).10.1038/s41565-020-00831-x ↗
7. Hensen, B. et al. Loophole-free Bell inequality violation using electron spins separated by 1.3 kilometres. Nature 526, 682–686 (2015).10.1038/nature15759 ↗
8. Mak, K. F. & Shan, J. Photonics and optoelectronics of 2D semiconductor transition metal dichalcogenides. Nat. Photonics 10, 216–226 (2016).10.1038/nphoton.2015.282 ↗
9. Luo, Y. et al. Deterministic coupling of site-controlled quantum emitters in monolayer WSe2 to plasmonic nanocavities. Nat. Nanotechnol. 13, 1137–1142 (2018).10.1038/s41565-018-0275-z ↗
10. Iff, O. et al. Purcell-enhanced single photon source based on a deterministically placed WSe2 monolayer quantum dot in a circular Bragg grating cavity. Nano Lett. 21, 4715–4720 (2021).10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c00978 ↗
11. Turunen, M. et al. Quantum photonics with layered 2D materials. Nat. Rev. Phys 4, 219–236 (2022).10.1038/s42254-021-00408-0 ↗
12. Tonndorf, P. et al. Single-photon emission from localized excitons in an atomically thin semiconductor. Optica 2, 347–352 (2015).10.1364/OPTICA.2.000347 ↗
13. He, Y.-M. et al. Single quantum emitters in monolayer semiconductors. Nat. Nanotechnol. 10, 497–502 (2015).10.1038/nnano.2015.75 ↗
14. Srivastava, A. et al. Optically active quantum dots in monolayer WSe2. Nat. Nanotechnol. 10, 491–496 (2015).10.1038/nnano.2015.60 ↗
15. Chakraborty, C., Kinnischtzke, L., Goodfellow, K. M., Beams, R. & Vamivakas, A. N. Voltage-controlled quantum light from an atomically thin semiconductor. Nat. Nanotechnol. 10, 507–511 (2015).10.1038/nnano.2015.79 ↗
16. Koperski, M. et al. Single photon emitters in exfoliated WSe2 structures. Nat. Nanotechnol. 10, 503–506 (2015).10.1038/nnano.2015.67 ↗
17. Palacios-Berraquero, C. et al. Atomically thin quantum light-emitting diodes. Nat. Commun. 7, 12978 (2016).10.1038/ncomms12978 ↗
18. Barthelmi, K. et al. Atomistic defects as single-photon emitters in atomically thin MoS2. Appl. Phys. Lett. 117, 070501 (2020).10.1063/5.0018557 ↗
19. Yu, L. et al. Site-controlled quantum emitters in monolayer MoSe2. Nano Lett. 21, 2376–2381 (2021).10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c04282 ↗
20. Zhao, H., Pettes, M. T., Zheng, Y. & Htoon, H. Site-controlled telecom-wavelength single-photon emitters in atomically-thin MoTe2. Nat. Commun. 12, 6753 (2021).
21. He, Y.-M. et al. Cascaded emission of single photons from the biexciton in monolayered WSe2. Nat. Commun. 7, 13409 (2016).
22. Novoselov, K. S., Mishchenko, A., Carvalho, A. & Neto, A. H. C. 2D materials and van der Waals heterostructures. Science 353, aac9439 (2016).10.1126/science.aac9439 ↗
23. Iff, O. et al. Strain-tunable single photon sources in WSe2 monolayers. Nano Lett. 19, 6931–6936 (2019).10.1021/acs.nanolett.9b02221 ↗
24. Branny, A., Kumar, S., Proux, R. & Gerardot, B. D. Deterministic strain-induced arrays of quantum emitters in a two-dimensional semiconductor. Nat. Commun. 8, 15053 (2017).10.1038/ncomms15053 ↗
25. Palacios-Berraquero, C. et al. Large-scale quantum-emitter arrays in atomically thin semiconductors. Nat. Commun. 8, 15093 (2017).10.1038/ncomms15093 ↗
26. Chou, C.-W. et al. Functional quantum nodes for entanglement distribution over scalable quantum networks. Science 316, 1316–1320 (2007).10.1126/science.1140300 ↗
27. Nauerth, S. et al. Air-to-ground quantum communication. Nat. Photonics 7, 382–386 (2013).10.1038/nphoton.2013.46 ↗
28. Liao, S.-K. et al. Satellite-to-ground quantum key distribution. Nature 549, 43–47 (2017).10.1038/nature23655 ↗
29. Liu, X. & Hersam, M. C. 2D materials for quantum information science. Nat. Rev. Mater. 4, 669–684 (2019).10.1038/s41578-019-0136-x ↗
30. Bennett, C. H. & Brassard, G. Quantum cryptography: Public key distribution and coin tossing. In Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Computers, Systems, and Signal Processing, 175 (IEEE, 1984).
31. Tripathi, L. N. et al. Spontaneous emission enhancement in strain-induced WSe2 monolayer-based quantum light sources on metallic surfaces. ACS Photonics 5, 1919–1926 (2018).10.1021/acsphotonics.7b01053 ↗
32. He, Y.-M., Höfling, S. & Schneider, C. Phonon induced line broadening and population of the dark exciton in a deeply trapped localized emitter in monolayer WSe2. Opt. Express 24, 8066–8073 (2016).10.1364/OE.24.008066 ↗
33. Brouri, R., Beveratos, A., Poizat, J.-P. & Grangier, P. Photon antibunching in the fluorescence of individual color centers in diamond. Opt. Lett. 25, 1294–1296 (2000).10.1364/OL.25.001294 ↗
34. Kupko, T. et al. Tools for the performance optimization of single-photon quantum key distribution. npj Quantum Inf. 6, 29 (2020).10.1038/s41534-020-0262-8 ↗
35. Lydersen, L. & Skaar, J. Security of quantum key distribution with bit and basis dependent detector flaws. Quantum Info. Comput. 10, 60–76 (2010).
36. Gottesman, D., Lo, H.-K., Lütkenhaus, N. & Preskill, J. Security of quantum key distribution with imperfect devices. Quantum Info. Comput. 4, 325–360 (2004).
37. Waks, E., Santori, C. & Yamamoto, Y. Security aspects of quantum key distribution with sub-Poisson light. Phys. Rev. A 66, 042315 (2002).10.1103/PhysRevA.66.042315 ↗
38. Tomamichel, M., Lim, C. C. W., Gisin, N. & Renner, R. Tight finite-key analysis for quantum cryptography. Nat. Commun. 3, 634 (2012).10.1038/ncomms1631 ↗
39. Takeoka, M., Guha, S. & Wilde, M. M. Fundamental rate-loss tradeoff for optical quantum key distribution. Nat. Commun. 5, 5235 (2014).10.1038/ncomms6235 ↗
40. Pirandola, S., Laurenza, R., Ottaviani, C. & Banchi, L. Fundamental limits of repeaterless quantum communications. Nat. Commun. 8, 15043 (2017).10.1038/ncomms15043 ↗
41. Wang, W. & Lo, H.-K. Machine learning for optimal parameter prediction in quantum key distribution. Phys. Rev. A 100, 062334 (2019).10.1103/PhysRevA.100.062334 ↗
42. Ursin, R. et al. Entanglement-based quantum communication over 144 km. Nature Phys. 3, 481–486 (2007).10.1038/nphys629 ↗
43. Vajner, D. A., Rickert, L., Gao, T., Kaymazlar, K. & Heindel, T. Quantum communication using semiconductor quantum dots. Adv. Quantum Technol. 5, 2100116 (2022).10.1002/qute.202100116 ↗
44. Waks, E. et al. Quantum cryptography with a photon turnstile. Nature 420, 762–762 (2002).10.1038/420762a ↗
45. Intallura, P. M. et al. Quantum communication using single photons from a semiconductor quantum dot emitting at a telecommunication wavelength. J. Opt. A: Pure Appl. Opt. 11, 054005 (2009).10.1088/1464-4258/11/5/054005 ↗
46. Heindel, T. et al. Quantum key distribution using quantum dot single-photon emitting diodes in the red and near infrared spectral range. New J. Phys. 14, 083001 (2012).10.1088/1367-2630/14/8/083001 ↗
47. Takemoto, K. et al. Quantum key distribution over 120 km using ultrahigh purity single-photon source and superconducting single-photon detectors. Sci. Rep. 5, 14383 (2015).
48. Basset, F. B. et al. Quantum key distribution with entangled photons generated on demand by a quantum dot. Sci. Adv. 7, eabe6379 (2021).10.1126/sciadv.abe6379 ↗
49. Schimpf, C. et al. Quantum cryptography with highly entangled photons from semiconductor quantum dots. Sci. Adv. 7, eabe8905 (2021).10.1126/sciadv.abe8905 ↗
50. Beveratos, A. et al. Single photon quantum cryptography. Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 187901 (2002).10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.187901 ↗
51. Leifgen, M. et al. Evaluation of nitrogen- and silicon-vacancy defect centres as single photon sources in quantum key distribution. New J. Phys. 16, 023021 (2014).10.1088/1367-2630/16/2/023021 ↗
52. Zeng, H. Z. J. et al. Integrated room temperature single-photon source for quantum key distribution. Opt. Lett. 47, 1673–1676 (2022).10.1364/OL.454450 ↗
53. Murtaza, G. et al. Efficient room-temperature molecular single-photon sources for quantum key distribution. Preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/2202.12635 (2022).10.1364/OE.476440 ↗
54. Bennett, C. H. Quantum cryptography using any two nonorthogonal states. Phys. Rev. Lett. 68, 3121 (1992).10.1103/PhysRevLett.68.3121 ↗
55. Samaner, Ç., Paçal, S., Mutlu, G., Uyaník, K. & Ateş, S. Free-space quantum key distribution with single photons from defects in hexagonal boron nitride. Adv. Quantum Technol. 5, 2200059 (2022).10.1002/qute.202200059 ↗
56. Gao, T. et al. A quantum key distribution testbed using a plug&play telecom-wavelength single-photon source. Appl. Phys. Rev. 9, 011412 (2022).10.1063/5.0070966 ↗
57. Luo, Y., Liu, N., Li, X., Hone, J. C. & Strauf, S. Single photon emission in WSe2 up to 160 K by quantum yield control. 2D Mater. 6, 035017 (2019).10.1088/2053-1583/ab15fe ↗
58. Morrison, C. L. et al. Single-emitter quantum key distribution over 175 km of fiber with optimised finite key rates. Preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/2209.03394 (2022).10.1038/s41467-023-39219-5 ↗