Single dye molecules in an oxygen-depleted environment as photostable organic triggered single-photon sources

Abstract

We demonstrate, that under nitrogen atmosphere, 20% of single DiIC18(3) (1,1′-dioctadecyl-3,3,3′,3′-tetramethylindocarbocyanine perchlorate) molecules in poly(methylmethacrylate) show an extremely low photobleaching quantum yield of (4.66±0.07)×10−8 together with a reasonably short triplet lifetime. We exploit these properties to demonstrate that the system can be used to produce a triggered single-photon source based exclusively on organic materials.