Aspheric lens design proposal for near-perfect mode-matching of a broadband quantum dot micropillar to a single-mode fiber

Yichen Zhang; David Dlaka; James W J Mcdougall; James Y Tai; Petros Androvitsaneas; Edmund G H Harbord; Ruth Oulton; Andrew B Young

doi:10.1364/OE.574455

Aspheric lens design proposal for near-perfect mode-matching of a broadband quantum dot micropillar to a single-mode fiber

Yichen Zhang, David Dlaka^*, James W J Mcdougall, James Y Tai, Petros Androvitsaneas, Edmund G H Harbord, Ruth Oulton, Andrew B Young

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Quantum dots in micropillars are one of the most promising options for a bright, deterministic single photon source. While highly efficient devices (>95%) have been designed, there remains a significant bottleneck that impacts the overall system efficiency: the large numerical aperture of the output mode. This leads to inefficient coupling of emitted photons into single-mode fiber (SMF), thus limiting practical integration into quantum computing and communication architectures. We show that with the addition of a well designed aspheric SiO2 microlens we can decrease the mode-matching losses to a SMF from 83.1% to <0.1(0.1)%. This can result in a single photon source design with 96.4(0.1)% end-to-end efficiency, paving the way for scalable photonic quantum technologies.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	47063-47070
Number of pages	8
Journal	Optics Express
Volume	33
Issue number	22
Early online date	29 Oct 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.574455
Publication status	Published - 3 Nov 2025

Research Groups and Themes

QETLabs

Keywords

quantum dot
micropillar
nanolens
fibre coupling
single photon sources

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Design principles for > 90 % efficiency and > 99 % indistinguishability broadband quantum dot cavities
Dlaka, D., Androvitsaneas, P., Young, A., Ma, Q., Harbord, E. & Oulton, R., 13 Sept 2024, In: New Journal of Physics. 26, 9, 093022.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

Open Access
3 Citations (Scopus)

Cite this

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title = "Aspheric lens design proposal for near-perfect mode-matching of a broadband quantum dot micropillar to a single-mode fiber",

abstract = "Quantum dots in micropillars are one of the most promising options for a bright, deterministic single photon source. While highly efficient devices (>95\%) have been designed, there remains a significant bottleneck that impacts the overall system efficiency: the large numerical aperture of the output mode. This leads to inefficient coupling of emitted photons into single-mode fiber (SMF), thus limiting practical integration into quantum computing and communication architectures. We show that with the addition of a well designed aspheric SiO2 microlens we can decrease the mode-matching losses to a SMF from 83.1\% to <0.1(0.1)\%. This can result in a single photon source design with 96.4(0.1)\% end-to-end efficiency, paving the way for scalable photonic quantum technologies.",

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author = "Yichen Zhang and David Dlaka and Mcdougall, \{James W J\} and Tai, \{James Y\} and Petros Androvitsaneas and Harbord, \{Edmund G H\} and Ruth Oulton and Young, \{Andrew B\}",

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doi = "10.1364/OE.574455",

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AU - Zhang, Yichen

AU - Dlaka, David

AU - Mcdougall, James W J

AU - Tai, James Y

AU - Androvitsaneas, Petros

AU - Harbord, Edmund G H

AU - Oulton, Ruth

AU - Young, Andrew B

PY - 2025/11/3

Y1 - 2025/11/3

N2 - Quantum dots in micropillars are one of the most promising options for a bright, deterministic single photon source. While highly efficient devices (>95%) have been designed, there remains a significant bottleneck that impacts the overall system efficiency: the large numerical aperture of the output mode. This leads to inefficient coupling of emitted photons into single-mode fiber (SMF), thus limiting practical integration into quantum computing and communication architectures. We show that with the addition of a well designed aspheric SiO2 microlens we can decrease the mode-matching losses to a SMF from 83.1% to <0.1(0.1)%. This can result in a single photon source design with 96.4(0.1)% end-to-end efficiency, paving the way for scalable photonic quantum technologies.

AB - Quantum dots in micropillars are one of the most promising options for a bright, deterministic single photon source. While highly efficient devices (>95%) have been designed, there remains a significant bottleneck that impacts the overall system efficiency: the large numerical aperture of the output mode. This leads to inefficient coupling of emitted photons into single-mode fiber (SMF), thus limiting practical integration into quantum computing and communication architectures. We show that with the addition of a well designed aspheric SiO2 microlens we can decrease the mode-matching losses to a SMF from 83.1% to <0.1(0.1)%. This can result in a single photon source design with 96.4(0.1)% end-to-end efficiency, paving the way for scalable photonic quantum technologies.

KW - quantum dot

KW - micropillar

KW - nanolens

KW - fibre coupling

KW - single photon sources

U2 - 10.1364/OE.574455

DO - 10.1364/OE.574455

M3 - Article (Academic Journal)

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EP - 47070

JO - Optics Express

JF - Optics Express

IS - 22

ER -

Aspheric lens design proposal for near-perfect mode-matching of a broadband quantum dot micropillar to a single-mode fiber

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Research output

Design principles for > 90 % efficiency and > 99 % indistinguishability broadband quantum dot cavities

Cite this