Observation of strongly entangled photon pairs from a nanowire quantum dot

A bright photon source that combines high-fidelity entanglement, on-demand generation, high extraction efficiency, directional and coherent emission, as well as position control at the nanoscale is required for implementing ambitious schemes in quantum information processing, such as that of a quantum repeater. Still, all of these properties have not yet been achieved in a single device. Semiconductor quantum dots embedded in nanowire waveguides potentially satisfy all of these requirements; however, although theoretically predicted, entanglement has not yet been demonstrated for a nanowire quantum dot. Here, we demonstrate a bright and coherent source of strongly entangled photon pairs from a position-controlled nanowire quantum dot with a fidelity as high as 0.859±0.006 and concurrence of 0.80±0.02. The two-photon quantum state is modified via the nanowire shape. Our new nanoscale entangled photon source can be integrated at desired positions in a quantum photonic circuit, single-electron devices and light-emitting diodes. Semiconductor quantum dots embedded in nanowires are good candidates for the realization of a nearly ideal entangled photons source. Here, Versteegh et al. demonstrate emission of single-photon pairs from a position-controlled nanowire quantum dot without the need for temporal post-selection.