Single-photon circularly polarized single-mode vortex beams

Abstract

Generation of single photons carrying spin and orbital angular momenta (SAM and OAM) opens enticing perspectives for exploiting multiple degrees of freedom for high-dimensional quantum systems. However, on-chip generation of single photons encoded with single-mode SAM-OAM states has been a major challenge. Here, by utilizing carefully designed anisotropic nanodimers fabricated atop a substrate, supporting surface plasmon polariton (SPP) propagation, and accurately positioned around a quantum emitter (QE), we enable nonradiative QE-SPP coupling and the SPP outcoupling into free-space propagating radiation featuring the designed SAM and OAM. We demonstrate on-chip room-temperature generation of well-collimated (divergence < 7.5 degrees) circularly polarized (chirality > 0.97) single-mode vortex beams with different topological charges (l = 0, 1, and 2) and high single-photon purity, g(0) < 0.15. The developed approach can straightforwardly be extended to produce multiple, differently polarized, single-mode single-photon radiation channels, and enable thereby realization of high-dimensional quantum sources for advanced quantum photonic technologies.