Temperature-independent almost perfect photon entanglement from quantum dots via the SUPER scheme

Abstract

Entangled photon pairs are essential for quantum communication technology. They can be generated on-demand by semiconductor quantum dots, but several mechanisms are known to reduce the degree of entanglement. While some obstacles like the finite fine-structure splitting can be overcome by now, the excitation scheme itself can impair the entanglement fidelity. Here, we demonstrate that the swing-up of quantum emitter population (SUPER) scheme applied to a quantum dot in a cavity yields almost perfectly entangled photons. The entanglement degree remains robust against phonon influences even at elevated temperatures, due to decoupling of the excitation and emission process. With this achievement, quantum dots are ready to be used as entangled photon pair sources in applications requiring high degrees of entanglement up to temperatures of about $80\,$K.