Abstract

Recently, intensive research of single photon source is driven by the applications in quantum information sciences. A single photon source based on flying electrons carried by surface acoustic wave (SAW) is proposed. Single photon is emitted as an electron surfs with the SAW , crosses a n-p junction and recombines with a hole. In order to generate the SAW , search and detect the emission of single photons, a probe with RF input and optical scanning ability is essential. The first part of my talk focuses on how we design and build this probe. In the second part, I will discuss the test of the optical scanning system, which consists of a fibre, a lens assembly, and a piezo-driven 3-axes stepper. A chip is mounted on the probe and is imaged using the optical scanning system to check the performance of the system. The lens assembly is first moved in z direction to reach the focal point. A 2D scan is then carried out to find the features on the chip. The features such as optical gates, E-beam gates and mesa edge are used to calibrate the asymmetric piezo movement and calculate the length per step. A clear image of the chip can be obtained with proper focusing and asymmetry calibration. In addition, it is shown that the optical scanning system can image a sub-micron scale 1D channel. After this test, the probe will soon be ready for measurement of single photon source devices.