Van der Waals colloquium by prof.dr. Armando Rastelli from the Kepler University Linz (Austria) on "Generation and use of highly entangled photons from semiconductor quantum dots". Armando’s lab develops and uses novel quantum dot fabrication techniques to produce single and entangled photons for quantum information applications.

Abstract: Entanglement is one of the most peculiar phenomena in quantum science and a key resource for quantum technologies. More than two decades after the initial proposal, semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) are now beginning to outperform other light sources for the generation of entangled photon pairs. Among different material systems, QDs in the (Al)GaAs material platform have demonstrated the highest degree of polarization entanglement to date together with other appealing features for quantum science and technology. In this talk, we will discuss how QDs are fabricated and present recent results relevant to their application in quantum communication, i.e. entanglement-based quantum key distribution, as well as open challenges.

The Joan van der Waals colloquium is an ongoing bi-weekly lecture series, organized by LION. As all speakers are instructed to give an accessible lecture for everyone, these lectures aid in getting a broader view of physics. Each colloquium is preceded by an opening act: a PhD student or postdoc from LION and a different field than the invited speaker, to give a 10-min presentation. After the colloquium, there is a chance to meet your colleagues and participate in discussions at the borrel. More information can be found here.