Title: Semiconductor Quantum Dots: Genesis, prospects, & challenges
Abstract: Semiconductor nanostructures with low dimensionality like quantum dots are one the best attractive
solutions for achieving high performance photonic devices. In particular, quantum dots are currently experiencing a
second revolution, in particular thanks to their very high potential for silicon photonics & quantum technologies. When
one or more spatial dimensions of the nanocrystal approach the de Broglie wavelength, nanoscale size effects create a
spatial quantization of carriers along with various other phenomena based on quantum
mechanics. Thanks to their compactness, great thermal stability and large reflection
immunity, semiconductor quantum dot lasers are very promising candidates for low energy
consumption and isolation free photonic integrated circuits. When directly grown on silicon,
they even show a four‐wave mixing efficiency much superior compared to the conventional
quantum well devices. This remarkable result paves the way for achieving high‐efficiency
frequency comb generation from a photonic chip. Quantum dot lasers also exhibit a strong
potential for applications in optical routing and optical atomic clock. Last but not least, a
quantum dot single photon source is a building block in secure communications, and
therefore can be applied to quantum information processing for applications such as
quantum computers. This lecture will review the recent findings and prospects on nanostructure based light emitters
made with quantum‐dot technology. Many applications ranging from silicon‐based integrated solutions to quantum
information systems will be presented. In addition, the lecture will strongly highlight the importance of
nanotechnologies on industry and society especially for shaping the future information and communication society.
About the speaker: Frédéric Grillot is currently a Full Professor at Télécom Paris (France) and a Research Professor at
the University of New‐Mexico (USA). His research interests include, but are not limited to, advanced quantum confined
devices using III‐V compound semiconductors, quantum dots quantum dashes, light‐emitters based on intersubband
transitions, non‐classical light, nonlinear dynamics and optical chaos in semiconductor lasers systems as well as
microwave and silicon photonics applications.
Professor Grillot strongly contributes to promote and support the development of the general optics community. He has
served diligently and successfully Optica in particular as an Associate Editor of Optics Express, now as a Deputy Editor
since September 2022. As of now, he has published more than 130 journal articles, 3 book chapters, and delivered many
invited talks in major international conferences and workshops. Frédéric Grillot is also a Fellow Member of the SPIE as
well as a Senior Member of Optica and the IEEE Photonics Society. In 2022, he received the IEEE Photonics Society
Distinguished Lecturer Award which honors excellent speakers who have made technical, industrial or entrepreneurial
contributions to the field of photonics.