Free-space Emission Research Articles

Enhanced superradiance of quantum sources near nanoscaled media

We develop a rigorous theory for nanophotonic cooperative spontaneous emission of an ensemble of quantum emitters near matter, which also incorporates absorption. Such theory is highly requested since one should expect that in the field of nanophotonics the close-by emitters will emit cooperatively simultaneously with strong interaction with the exotic metamaterial complex dielectric function. The closed-form model developed here considers the buildup both of interemitter correlation over time through emitter transitions via the mutual field and of geometry-induced spatial correlation. The presence of matter alters the local density of states (LDOS), resulting in modified decay rate and emission intensity for the entire ensemble relative to values of spontaneous emission in free space. The superradiant total emission is separable into a quantum-mechanical time-dependent part and a classical space-dependent part, both being functions of the LDOS. Two distinct radiative emitter--far-field coupling mechanisms, which together account for the superradiant emission, are obtained---the coupling of every individual emitter with the far field and the coupling of emitter pairs to the far field. The calculations for superradiating emitters near silver and near-zero epsilon (NZE) materials were performed with the following results: the silver sphere augments the superradiant far-field intensity and rate by up to 400 and 1000%, respectively, while the NZE sphere enhances the far-field intensity and rate of the superradiance by approximately 1400 and 400%, respectively.

Effect of phonon-bath dimensionality on the spectral tuning of single-photon emitters in the Purcell regime

We develop a theoretical frame to investigate the spectral dependence of the brightness of a single-photon source made of a solid-state nanoemitter embedded in a high-quality factor microcavity. This study encompasses the cases of localized excitons embedded in a one-, two-, or three-dimensional matrix. The population evolution is calculated based on a spin-boson model, using the noninteracting blip approximation. We find that the spectral dependence of the single-photon source brightness (hereafter called spectral efficiency) can be expressed analytically through the free-space emission and absorption spectra of the emitter, the vacuum Rabi splitting, and the loss rates of the system. In other words, the free-space spectrum of the emitter encodes all the relevant information on the interaction between the exciton and the phonon bath to obtain the dynamics of the cavity-coupled system. We compute numerically the spectral efficiency for several types of localized emitters differing by the phonon bath dimensionality. In particular, in low-dimensional systems where this interaction is enhanced, a pronounced asymmetric energy exchange between the emitter and the cavity on the phonon sidebands yields a considerable extension of the tuning range of the source through phonon-assisted cavity feeding, possibly surpassing that of a purely resonant system.

Ultrafast zero-bias photocurrent and terahertz emission in hybrid perovskites

Methylammonium lead iodide is a benchmark hybrid organic perovskite material used for low-cost printed solar cells with a power conversion efficiency of over 20%. Nevertheless, the nature of light–matter interaction in hybrid perovskites and the exact physical mechanism underlying device operation are currently debated. Here, we report room temperature, ultrafast photocurrent generation, and free-space terahertz emission from unbiased hybrid perovskites induced by femtosecond light pulses. The polarization dependence of the observed photoresponse is consistent with the bulk photovoltaic effect caused by a combination of injection and shift currents. Observation of this type of photocurrents sheds light on the low recombination and long carrier diffusion lengths arising from the indirect bandgap in CH3NH3PbI3. Naturally ballistic shift and injection photocurrents may enable third-generation perovskite solar cells with efficiency exceeding the Shockley–Queisser limit. The demonstrated control over photocurrents with light polarization also opens new venues toward perovskite spintronics and tunable THz devices.

Cavity Antiresonance Spectroscopy of Dipole Coupled Subradiant Arrays.

An array of N closely spaced dipole coupled quantum emitters exhibits super- and subradiance with characteristic tailorable spatial radiation patterns. Optimizing the emitter geometry and distance with respect to the spatial profile of a near resonant optical cavity mode allows us to increase the ratio between light scattering into the cavity mode and free space emission by several orders of magnitude. This leads to distinct scaling of the collective coherent emitter-field coupling vs the free space decay as a function of the emitter number. In particular, for subradiant states, the effective cooperativity increases much faster than the typical linear ∝N scaling for independent emitters. This extraordinary collective enhancement is manifested both in the amplitude and the phase profile of narrow collective antiresonances appearing at the cavity output port in transmission spectroscopy.

Topological Quantum Optics in Two-Dimensional Atomic Arrays.

We demonstrate that two-dimensional atomic emitter arrays with subwavelength spacing constitute topologically protected quantum optical systems where the photon propagation is robust against large imperfections while losses associated with free space emission are strongly suppressed. Breaking time-reversal symmetry with a magnetic field results in gapped photonic bands with nontrivial Chern numbers and topologically protected, long-lived edge states. Due to the inherent nonlinearity of constituent emitters, such systems provide a platform for exploring quantum optical analogs of interacting topological systems.

Room temperature single photon source using fiber-integrated hexagonal boron nitride

Single photons are a key resource for quantum optics and optical quantum information processing. The integration of scalable room temperature quantum emitters into photonic circuits remains to be a technical challenge. Here we utilize a defect center in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) attached by Van der Waals force onto a multimode fiber as a single photon source. We perform an optical characterization of the source in terms of spectrum, state lifetime, power saturation and photostability. A special feature of our source is that it allows for easy switching between fiber-coupled and free space single photon generation modes. In order to prove the quantum nature of the emission we measure the second-order correlation function . For both fiber-coupled and free space emission, the dips below 0.5 indicating operation in the single photon regime. The results so far demonstrate the feasibility of 2D material single photon sources for scalable photonic quantum information processing.

Graphene oxide-assisted surface plasmon coupled emission for amplified fluorescence immunoassay

We have observed the unique enhancement of fluorescence signal of surface plasmon coupled emission (SPCE) by graphene oxide (GO) on gold film. Assembling ultrathin GO by electrostatic adsorption between gold film and fluorophore layer (about 30nm), the enhancement of fluorescence signal of SPCE reached 7 and 25 times respectively as compared to that of the regular SPCE and free space emission (FSE) without GO. The enhancement factors were studied through modifying different concentrations of GO and thicknesses of fluorophore layer, and the possible enhancement mechanisms were investigated. This GO-assisted SPCE was designed as an immunosensor to detect human IgG with a detection limit of 0.006ng/mL, which was much lower than the detection limit of immunosensor based on regular SPCE. This strategy combing GO and SPCE to enhance the fluorescence signal provides a simple way to improve detection sensitivity in fluorescence-based sensing platforms.

Optimization of vertical cavity lasers with intracavity metal layers

The dependence of the decay of optical eigenmodes in a vertical cavity laser with intracavity metal layers on the geometric parameters of the system is investigated. It is shown that the lowest decay rate corresponds to the case where the frequency of the cavity eigenmode differs from the Bragg frequency of the cavity mirrors. The spontaneous-emission rate is calculated using the S-quantization formalism. It is found that, for the odd-parity high-energy mode, this rate increases by two orders of magnitude with respect to the freespace emission rate.

Doubly Resonant Photonic Antenna for Single Infrared Quantum Dot Imaging at Telecommunication Wavelengths.

Colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) have drawn strong interest in the past for their high prospects in scientific, medical, and industrial applications. However, the full characterization of these quantum emitters is currently restricted to the visible wavelengths, and it remains a key challenge to optically probe single CQDs operating in the infrared spectral domain, which is targeted by a growing number of applications. Here, we report the first experimental detection and imaging at room temperature of single infrared CQDs operating at telecommunication wavelengths. Imaging was done with a doubly resonant bowtie nanoaperture antenna (BNA) written at the end of a fiber nanoprobe, whose resonances spectrally fit the CQD absorption and emission wavelengths. Direct near-field characterization of PbS CQDs reveal individual nanocrystals with a spatial resolution of 75 nm (λ/20) together with their intrinsic 2D dipolar free-space emission properties and exciton dynamics (blinking phenomenon). Because the doubly resonant BNA is strongly transmissive at both the CQD absorption and the emission wavelengths, we are able to perform all-fiber nanoimaging with a standard 20% efficiency InGaAs avalanche photodiode (APD). The detection efficiency is predicted to be 3000 fold larger than with a conventional circular aperture tip of the same transmission area. Double resonance BNA fiber probes thus offer the possibility of exploring extreme light-matter interaction in low band gap CQDs with current plug-and-play detection techniques, opening up new avenues in the fields of infrared light-emitting devices, photodetectors, telecommunications, bioimaging, and quantum information technology.

Multi-dimensional spatial light communication made with on-chip InGaN photonic integration

Here, we propose, fabricate and characterize suspended photonic integration of InGaN multiple-quantum-well light-emitting diode (MQW-LED), waveguide and InGaN MQW-photodetector on a single chip. The unique light emission property of InGaN MQW-LED makes it feasible to establish multi-dimensional spatial data transmission using visible light. The in-plane light communication system is comprised of InGaN MQW-LED, waveguide and InGaN MQW-photodetector, and the out-of-plane data transmission is realized by detecting the free-space light emission via a commercial photodiode module. Moreover, a full-duplex light communication is experimentally demonstrated at a data transmission rate of 50 Mbps when both InGaN MQW-diodes operate under simultaneous light emission and detection mode. The in-plane superimposed signals are able to be extracted through the self-interference cancellation method, and the out-of-plane superimposed signals are in good agreement with the calculated signals according to the extracted transmitted signals. These results are promising for the development of on-chip InGaN photonic integration for diverse applications.

Analysis of waveguide-coupled directional emission for efficient collection of Fluorescence/Raman light from surface

A theoretical method based on the optical reciprocity theorem combined with the Fresnel theory has been developed for the analysis of waveguide-coupled directional emission technique, which is useful for the surface Fluorescence/Raman spectroscopy. The Kretschmann-type waveguide with a molecular dipole located above or inside the core layer serves as the simulation model. The two-dimensional (2D) pattern of power density for the waveguide-coupled emission from the molecular dipole was calculated using the theoretical method. According to the results, with a given waveguide the 2D pattern of power density is highly dependent on both the orientation and position of the dipole. The maximum fraction of power occupied by the waveguide-coupled emission is 87% with the plasmon waveguide and 95% with the resonant mirror. Compared with the dipole emission in free space, the waveguide-coupled directional emission possesses easy collection, which is benefit for the detection of weak Fluorescence and Raman signals. From this point, the theoretical method used here is helpful for design and optimization of Kretschmann-type waveguide structures for high-sensitivity surface monitoring by Fluorescence/Raman spectroscopy.

Enhancing steady-state entanglement via vacuum-induced emitter–mirror coupling in a hybrid optomechanical system

We investigate a hybrid optomechanical system consisting of an ensemble of quantum emitters inside a standard optomechanical cavity with a moving end mirror, in which the motion of the mirror changes the transition rate of each emitter and therefore leads to a direct coupling between the internal state of the quantum emitter and the mechanical mode. We analyzed the steady-state characteristics of the optomechanical system and found that the bistability of the system depends strongly on the distance between the emitter ensemble and the mirror. Further, we also analyze in detail the influences of the distance and other system parameters, i.e., the effective detunings, the driving power, the decay rates of the cavity, and the emitter ensemble and the thermal phonons on the steady-state entanglement by considering fluctuation of the mechanical oscillator, the cavity field, and the emitter ensemble. It is found that the degree of the steady-state entanglement can be greatly enhanced in a certain range of parameters by increasing the vacuum-induced emitter–mirror coupling, which can be realized by decreasing the emitter–mirror distance and increasing properly the free-space spontaneous emission rate of the emitter.

Fluorescence Spectroscopy with Metal-Dielectric Waveguides.

We describe a hybrid metal-dielectric waveguide structures (MDWs) with numerous potential applications in the biosciences. These structures consist of a thin metal film coated with a dielectric layer. Depending on the thickness of the dielectric layer, the modes can be localized near the metal, within the dielectric, or at the top surface of the dielectric. The optical modes in a metal-dielectric waveguide can have either S (TE) or P (TM) polarization. The dielectric spacer avoids the quenching, which usually occurs for fluorophores within about 5 nm from the metal. Additionally, the resonances display a sharp angular dependence and can exhibit several hundred-fold increases in intensity (E2) at the silica-air interface relative to the incident intensity. Fluorophores placed on top of the silica layer couple efficiently with the metal, resulting in a sharp angular distribution of emission through the metal and down from the bottom of the structure. This coupling occurs over large distances to several hundred nm away from the metal and was found to be consistent with simulations of the reflectivity of the metal-dielectric waveguides. Remarkably, for some silica thicknesses, the emission is almost completely coupled through the structure with little free-space emission away from the metal-dielectric waveguide. The efficiency of fluorophore coupling is related to the quality of the resonant modes sustained by the metal-dielectric waveguide, resulting in coupling of most of the emission through the metal into the underlying glass substrates. Metal-dielectric waveguides also provide a method to resolve the emission from surface-bound fluorophores from the bulk-phase fluorophores. Metal-dielectric waveguides are simple to fabricate for large surface areas, the resonance wavelength can be adjusted by the dielectric thickness, and the silica surface is suitable for coupling to biomolecules. Metal-dielectric waveguides can have numerous applications in diagnostics and high-throughput proteomics or DNA analysis.

Radiative emission enhancement using nano-antennas made of hyperbolic metamaterial resonators

A hyperbolic metamaterial (HM) resonator is analyzed as a nano-antenna for enhancing the radiative emission of quantum emitters in its vicinity. It has been shown that the spontaneous emission rate by an emitter near a hyperbolic metamaterial substrate is enhanced dramatically due to very large density of states. However, enhanced coupling to the free-space, which is central to applications such as solid-state lighting, has not been investigated significantly. Here, we numerically demonstrate approximately 100 times enhancement of the free-space radiative emission at 660 nm wavelength by utilizing a cylindrical HM resonator with a radius of 54 nm and a height of 80 nm on top of an opaque silver-cladded substrate. We also show how the free-space radiation enhancement factor depends on the dipole orientation and the location of the emitter near the subwavelength resonator. Furthermore, we calculate that an array of HM resonators with subwavelength spacings can maintain most of the enhancement effect of a single resonator.

Narrow-band single photon emission at room temperature based on a single nitrogen-vacancy center coupled to an all-fiber-cavity

We report the realization of a device based on a single Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) center in diamond coupled to a fiber-cavity for use as single photon source (SPS). The device consists of two concave mirrors each directly fabricated on the facets of two optical fibers and a preselected nanodiamond containing a single NV center deposited onto one of these mirrors. Both, cavity in- and out-put are directly fiber-coupled, and the emission wavelength is easily tunable by variation of the separation of the two mirrors with a piezo-electric crystal. By coupling to the cavity, we achieve an increase of the spectral photon rate density by two orders of magnitude compared to free-space emission of the NV center. With this work, we establish a simple all-fiber based SPS with promising prospects for the integration into photonic quantum networks.

Extracting surface wave-coupled emission with subsurface dielectric gratings.

Conventional surface plasmons (SPs) or Bloch surface waves (BSWs) have a wave vector exceeding that of light in vacuum, and, therefore, the surface plasmon-coupled emission (SPCE) or Bloch surface wave-coupled emission (BSWCE) cannot escape from the corresponding structures. With the aid of a high-refractive-index prism or an oil-immersion objective, the SPCE or BSWCE can be coupled into free space. But the large volumes of the prism and objective are certainly unfavorable for miniaturization of the optical systems or inconvenient for applications such as the optical displays. Here we experimentally demonstrate a new method to extract the SPCE or BSWCE with a subsurface dielectric grating. The experimental results verify that the chip-like substrate with two decorated sides can bring out the directional fluorescence emission in free space. The emitting direction and emitting patterns can be tuned by the period size and dimensionality of the gratings. Our work provides a new strategy to realize free-space directional fluorescence emission at a very low cost and compact configuration, which has potential applications in fluorescence-based sensing, imaging, light-emitting diodes, optical displays, and other near-field optical devices.

A simplified approach for the calculation of acoustic emission in the case of friction-induced noise and vibration

The acoustic response associated with squeal noise radiations is a hard issue due to the need to consider non-linearities of contact and friction, to solve the associated nonlinear dynamic problem and to calculate the noise emissions due to self-excited vibrations. In this work, the focus is on the calculation of the sound pressure in free space generated during squeal events.The calculation of the sound pressure can be performed by the Boundary Element Method (BEM). The inputs of this method are a boundary element model, a field of normal velocity characterized by a unique frequency. However, the field of velocity associated with friction-induced vibrations is composed of several harmonic components. So, the BEM equation has to be solved for each frequency and in most cases, the number of harmonic components is significant. Therefore, the computation time can be prohibitive.The reduction of the number of harmonic component is a key point for the quick estimation of the squeal noise. The proposed approach is based on the detection and the selection of the predominant harmonic components in the mean square velocity. It is applied on two cases of squeal and allows us to consider only few frequencies.In this study, a new method will be proposed in order to quickly well estimate the noise emission in free space. This approach will be based on an approximated acoustic power of brake system which is assumed to be a punctual source, an interpolated directivity and the decrease of the acoustic power levels.This method is applied on two classical cases of squeal with one and two unstable modes. It allows us to well reconstruct the acoustic power levels map. Several error estimators are introduced and show that the reconstructed field is close to the reference calculated with a complete BEM.

Purcell-enhanced Raman scattering from atmospheric gases in a high-finesse microcavity

We demonstrate the Purcell spontaneous-emission enhancement effect for Raman scattering from gases in a $\ensuremath{\sim}$10-$\ensuremath{\mu}$m-long Fabry-P\'erot microcavity with a mode volume of $\ensuremath{\sim}$100 $\ensuremath{\mu}$m${}^{3}$ and a peak finesse of 50 000. The cavity increases the pump laser intensity by resonant recirculation while simultaneously enhancing the rate of Raman scattering into a separate cavity mode by modification of the density of states of the intracavity electromagnetic vacuum field. The result is an overall enhancement of $\ensuremath{\sim}$10${}^{7}$ compared to free-space emission into the same solid angle as the cavity, enabling trace gas sensing requiring only minute sample quantities.

Equation-of-motion technique for finite-size quantum-dot systems: Cluster expansion method

An equation-of-motion based theory for the description of light emission from multilevel semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) is presented. It accounts for electronic excitations in the presence of Coulomb interaction, leading to multiexciton states, and their coupling to the quantized electromagnetic field. The two key aspects of this work concern (i) the combination of an exact treatment of the electronic degrees of freedom with an approximate approach for the photonic degrees of freedom that is based on the cluster expansion technique and (ii) the consistent incorporation of scattering and dephasing due to the coupling to delocalized electronic states and phonons into the equations of motion via Lindblad terms. Differences to previously used theories are discussed and results of the theory are shown for free-space emission, where multiexciton spectra are shown, and for emission into a single high-$Q$ cavity mode. In the latter case, a full solution of the von-Neumann equation is used to benchmark the proposed theory, which we term ``finite-size hierarchy'' (FSH) method.

Surface Plasmon-Coupled Emission of Rhodamine 110 Aggregates in a Silica Nanolayer.

First analysis of strong directional surface plasmon-coupled emission (SPCE) of ground-state formed intermolecular aggregates of Rhodamine 110 (R110) in silica nanofilms deposited on silver nanolayers is reported. Until now, the processes of energy transport and its trapping due to aggregate formation have not been studied in the presence of SPCE. A new approach to multicomponent systems with weakly and strongly fluorescent centers making use of fluorophore-surface plasmon interaction is presented. The analysis is based on comparison of experimental free-space emission spectra (F-SE), experimental SPCE with theoretical surface plasmon resonance spectra (SPR). It is shown that, due to the dispersion of SPCE, the detection of weak aggregate emission is straightforward if only the monomers and aggregates fluorescence spectra are somewhat spectrally shifted. SPCE studies confirmed the formation of weakly fluorescent higher order aggregates of R110 in silica films. The results indicate that the increase of energy transfer from monomers to aggregates is due to fluorophore-plasmon interaction.