Squeezing Quantum Dots to Tune Their Wavelength, Allow Interaction

A technique for squeezing quantum dots, developed at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), could enable many quantum dots to interact with each other in a quantum network. The new technique provides a way to realize quantum dots that are tuned precisely in both their wavelength and position. The size of a quantum dot determines its emission wavelength, but no two quantum dots have exactly the same size and shape when they are created. To enable quantum dots to emit single photons with the same wavelength, and positioned less than 1 millionth of a meter apart, the researchers patterned strain using local phase transitions to selectively tune individual quantum dots that were embedded in a photonic architecture. The patterning was...