Single photoelectron trapping, storage, and detection in a one-electron quantum dot

There has been considerable progress in electrostatically emptying, and refilling, quantum dots with individual electrons. Typically the quantum dot is defined by electrostatic gates on a GaAs∕AlyGa1−yAs modulation-doped heterostructure. We report the filling of such a quantum dot by a single photoelectron, originating from an individual photon. The electrostatic dot can be emptied and reset in a controlled fashion before the arrival of each photon. The trapped photoelectron is detected by a point contact transistor integrated adjacent to the electrostatic potential trap. Each stored photoelectron causes a persistent negative step in the transistor channel current. Such a controllable, benign, single photoelectron detector could allow for information transfer between flying photon qubits and stored electron qubits.