Ultrafast room temperature single-photon source from nanowire-quantum dots.

Epitaxial semiconductor quantum dots are particularly promising as realistic single-photon sources for their compatibility with manufacturing techniques and possibility to be implemented in compact devices. Here, we demonstrate for the first time single-photon emission up to room temperature from an epitaxial quantum dot inserted in a nanowire, namely a CdSe slice in a ZnSe nanowire. The exciton and biexciton lines can still be resolved at room temperature and the biexciton turns out to be the most appropriate transition for single-photon emission due to a large nonradiative decay of the bright exciton to dark exciton states. With an intrinsically short radiative decay time (≈300 ps) this system is the fastest room temperature single-photon emitter, allowing potentially gigahertz repetition rates.