Nanowire coupling to photonic crystal nanocavities for single photon sources

We demonstrate highly efficient evanescent coupling via a silica loop-nanowire, to ultra-small (0.5 (lambda/n) 3), InAs/InP quantum dot photonic crystal cavities, specifically designed for single photon source applications. This coupling technique enables the tuning of both the Q-factor and the wavelength of the cavity mode independently, which is highly relevant for single photon source applications. First, this allows for the optimization of the extraction efficiency while maintaining a high Purcell factor. Second, the cavity mode can be matched with a spectrally misaligned quantum dot without changing the structure or degrading the Q-factor: a 3 nm resonance shift is reported. (c) 2007 Optical society of America.