A Method to Accurately Center Quantum Dots Within Photonic Chips

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and colleagues have developed standards and calibrations for optical microscopes that allow quantum dots to be aligned with the center of a photonic component to within an error of 10 to 20 nanometers (about one-thousandth the thickness of a sheet of paper). Such alignment is critical for chip-scale devices that employ the radiation emitted by quantum dots to store and transmit quantum information.