Semiconductor Quantum Structures and Devices

Semiconductor quantum structures confine electrons and holes to nanometer-scale regions, producing discrete energy levels and light-matter interactions that have no counterpart in bulk materials. Quantum dots—tiny islands of semiconductor material—can trap individual electron-hole pairs called excitons and release them as single photons on demand, making them central to efforts in quantum communication and photonic quantum computing. Embedding a quantum dot inside a microcavity dramatically alters how it exchanges energy with light, enabling the strong-coupling regime where quantum optical phenomena become accessible in a solid-state device. Active research is now focused on pushing single-photon sources toward near-perfect efficiency and indistinguishability, and on reliably generating pairs of entangled photons from single dots—a capability that remains sensitive to structural imperfections and environmental noise.

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Keywords

Quantum DotsSemiconductorSingle-Photon SourceExcitonsMicrocavityBand Parameters