Giant nonlinear interaction between two optical beams via a quantum dot embedded in a photonic wire

Optical nonlinearities usually appear for large intensities, but discrete transitions allow for giant nonlinearities operating at the single-photon level. This has been demonstrated in the last decade for a single optical mode with cold atomic gases, or single two-level systems coupled to light via a tailored photonic environment.

Here, we demonstrate a two-mode giant nonlinearity with a single semiconductor quantum dot (QD) embedded in a photonic wire antenna. We exploit two detuned optical transitions associated with the exciton-biexciton QD level scheme. Owing to the broadband waveguide antenna, the two transitions are efficiently interfaced with two free-space laser beams.

The reflection of one laser beam is then controlled by the other beam, with a threshold power as low as 10 photons per exciton lifetime (1.6 nW). Such a two-color nonlinearity opens appealing perspectives for the ealization of ultralow-power logical gates and optical quantum gates, and could also be implemented in an integrated photonic circuit based on planar waveguides.