Phonon-assisted robust and deterministic two-photon biexciton preparation in a quantum dot

Abstract

We investigate both experimentally and theoretically a simple yet more robust and flexible alternative to Rabi oscillation-type biexciton preparation protocols traditionally used for semiconductor quantum dots. The quantum dot is excited by a strong laser pulse positively detuned from the two-photon resonance yielding an on demand initialization of the biexciton state by making use of the phonon-induced thermalization of the photon dressed states. It is shown that for excitation pulses in the picosecond range, a stable and high occupation of up to ${C}_{XX}=0.95\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.02$ is reached. Notably, the generated photons show similar coherence properties as measured in the resonant two-photon scheme. This protocol is a powerful tool for the control of complex solid state systems combining radiative cascades, entanglement, and resonant cavity modes.