Single-photon emission from single-electron transport in a SAW-driven lateral light-emitting diode

The long-distance quantum transfer between electron-spin qubits in semiconductors is important for realising large-scale quantum computing circuits. Electron-spin to photon-polarisation conversion is a promising technology for achieving free-space or fibre-coupled quantum transfer. In this work, using only regular lithography techniques on a conventional 15 nm GaAs quantum well, we demonstrate acoustically-driven generation of single photons from single electrons, without the need for a self-assembled quantum dot. In this device, a single electron is carried in a potential minimum of a surface acoustic wave (SAW) and is transported to a region of holes to form an exciton. The exciton then decays and creates a single optical photon within 100 ps. This SAW-driven electroluminescence, without optimisation, yields photon antibunching with g(2)(0) = 0.39 ± 0.05 in the single-electron limit (g(2)(0) = 0.63 ± 0.03 in the raw histogram). Our work marks the first step towards electron-to-photon (spin-to-polarisation) qubit conversion for scaleable quantum computing architectures. Electron-spin to photon-polarisation conversion is a promising technology for achieving free-space or fibre coupled quantum transfer. Here, the authors demonstrate acoustically-driven single photons from single electrons, without the need for self-assembled quantum dots, using a SAW-driven lateral n-i-p junction.