Controlling single-photon transport with three-level quantum dots in photonic crystals

Abstract

We investigate how to control single-photon transport along the photonic crystal waveguide with the recent experimentally demonstrated artificial atoms [i.e., $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$-type quantum dots (QDs)] [S. G. Carter et al., Nat. Photon. 7, 329 (2013)] in an all-optical way. Adopting full quantum theory in real space, we analytically calculate the transport coefficients of single photons scattered by a $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$-type QD embedded in single- and two-mode photonic crystal cavities (PCCs), respectively. Our numerical results clearly show that the photonic transmission properties can be exactly manipulated by adjusting the coupling strengths of waveguide-cavity and QD-cavity interactions. Specifically, for the PCC with two degenerate orthogonal polarization modes coupled to a $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$-type QD with two degenerate ground states, we find that the photonic transmission spectra show three Rabi-splitting dips and the present system could serve as single-photon polarization beam splitters. The feasibility of our proposal with the current photonic crystal technique is also discussed.