A new approach to quantum light emitters generates a stream of circularly polarized single photons, or particles of light, that may be useful for a range of quantum information and communication applications. A Los Alamos National Laboratory team stacked two different atomically thin materials to realize this chiral quantum light source.
"Our research shows that it is possible for a monolayer semiconductor to emit circularly polarized light without the help of an external magnetic field," said Han Htoon, scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
"This effect has only been achieved before with high magnetic fields created by bulky superconducting magnets, by coupling quantum emitters to very complex nanoscale photonics structures or by injecting spin-polarized carriers into quantum emitters. Our proximity-effect approach has the advantage of low-cost fabrication and reliability."
The polarization state is a means of encoding the photon, so this achievement is an important step in the direction of quantum cryptography or quantum communication.
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