Combining in-situ lithography with 3D printed solid immersion lenses for single quantum dot spectroscopy

Abstract

In the current study, we report on the deterministic fabrication of solid immersion lenses (SILs) on lithographically pre-selected semiconductor quantum dots (QDs). We demonstrate the combination of state-of-the-art low-temperature in-situ photolithography and femtosecond 3D direct laser writing. Several QDs are pre-selected with a localization accuracy of less than 2 nm with low-temperature lithography and three-dimensional laser writing is then used to deterministically fabricate hemispherical lenses on top of the quantum emitter with a submicrometric precision. Due to the printed lenses, the QD light extraction efficiency is enhanced by a factor of 2, the pumping laser is focused more, and the signal-to-noise ratio is increased, leading to an improved localization accuracy of the QD to well below 1 nm. Furthermore, modifications of the QD properties, i.e. strain and variation of internal quantum efficiency induced by the printed lenses, are also reported.