Coherent Two Photon Production in Superconductor-Semiconductor Heterostructures

Connecting a thin (direct band gap) p-n junction to a superconductor allows Cooper pairs to tunnel into the junction. This leads to an enhancement of the luminescence at the junction via Cooper pair based radiative recombination[1,2], an effect that has recently been observed experimentally[3]. Due to the proximity-induced Cooper pairs in the junction, anomalous photon production related to coherent two photon processes becomes allowed. Using a simple model for direct band gap luminescence we study a superconductor-p-n-superconductor heterostructure where the two photon state depends on the relative phase between the two superconductors. We investigate to what extend the production rate of entangled photons is controlled by the phase difference between the attached superconductors. \newline \newline [1] E. Hanamura, Phys. Stat. Sol. (b) 234, 166 (2002). \newline [2] Y. Asano, I. Suemune, H. Takayanagi, and E. Hanamura, Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 187001 (2009). \newline [3] I. Suemune, T. Akazaki, K. Tanaka, M. Jo, K. Uesugi, M. Endo1, H. Kumano, E. Hanamura, H. Takayanagi, M. Yamanishi and H. Kan, Jpn. Journ. of Appl. Phys. 45, 9264 (2006).