Quantum hydrodynamics of a single particle
Abstract
Semiconductor devices are strong competitors in the race for the development of quantum com-putational systems. In this work, we interface two semiconductor building blocks of different di-mensionality and with complementary properties: (1) a quantum dot hosting a single exciton andacting as a nearly ideal single-photon emitter and (2) a quantum well in a 2D microcavity sustain-ing polaritons, which are known for their strong interactions and unique hydrodynamics propertiesincluding ultrafast real-time monitoring of their propagation and phase-mapping. In the presentexperiment we can thus observe how the injected single particles propagate and evolve inside themicrocavity, giving rise to hydrodynamics features typical of macroscopic systems despite their in-trinsic genuine quantum nature. In the presence of a structural defect, we observe the celebratedquantum interference of a single particle that produces fringes reminiscent of a wave propagation.While this behaviour could be theoretically expected, our imaging of such an interference pattern,together with a measurement of antibunching, constitutes the first demonstration of spatial mappingof the self-interference of a single quantum particle hitting an obstacle.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1908.03472,
title = {Quantum hydrodynamics of a single particle},
author = {D. G. Suárez-Forero and V. Ardizzone and S. F. Covre da Silva and M. Reindl and A. Fieramosca and L. Polimeno and M. de Giorgi and L. Dominici and L. N. Pfeiffer and G. Gigli and D. Ballarini and F. Laussy and A. Rastelli and D. Sanvitto},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1908.03472},
year = {2020}
}
Comments
9 pages, 4 figures, supplementary 4 pages, 6 figures