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Updated: Mar 30, 2026

A Photonic System for Generating Unconditional Polarization-Entangled Photons Based on Multiple Quantum Interference
Published on: September 5, 2019
Polarization Engineering in Photonic Crystal Waveguides for Spin-Photon Entanglers
A B Young1, A C T Thijssen2, D M Beggs2
1Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Bristol, Merchant Venturers Building, Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1UB, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
By performing a full analysis of the projected local density of states (LDOS) in a photonic crystal waveguide, we show that phase plays a crucial role in the symmetry of the light-matter interaction. By considering a quantum dot (QD) spin coupled to a photonic crystal waveguide (PCW) mode, we demonstrate that the light-matter interaction can be asymmetric, leading to unidirectional emission and a deterministic entangled photon source. Further we show that understanding the phase associated with both the LDOS and the QD spin is essential for a range of devices that can be realized with a QD in a PCW. We also show how suppression of quantum interference prevents dipole induced reflection in the waveguide, and highlight a fundamental breakdown of the semiclassical dipole approximation for describing light-matter interactions in these spin dependent systems.

