Entanglement swapping with energy-polarization entangled photons from quantum dot cascade decay

Abstract: We theoretically investigate the efficiency of an entanglement swapping procedure based on the use of quantum dots as sources of entangled photon pairs. The four-photon interference that affects such efficiency is potentially limited by the fine-structure splitting and by the time correlation between cascaded photons, which provide which-path information. The effect of spectral inhomogeneity is also considered, and a possible quantum eraser experiment is discussed for the case of identical dots.