An emerging challenge in quantum nano-optics is to extend the toolbox generated from experiments with single emitters and single photons towards interfacing of a well-defined number of photons and quantum emitters. The resulting complex optical network would enable studies of many-body quantum optical phenomena and novel states of light and matter. Here, we discuss a chip-based scalable platform, which relies on the evanescent coupling of organic molecules to subwavelength dielectric waveguides (nanoguides) embedded in an organic matrix. The highly confined mode of a nanoguide allows a substantial mode overlap with the emission pattern of an emitter, resulting in large coupling efficiencies. As a result, we can observe coherent extinction signals from many different molecules in the transmission signal of a nanoguide [1]. Furthermore, the efficient linear coupling of photons and molecules paves the way for achieving nonlinear effects such as switching or amplification at very low light power [1, 2]. We also elaborate on future efforts towards the realization of on-chip polaritonic states [3] and integration of further optical elements such as micoresonators [4,5], which would enhance and tailor the coupling of molecules to each other.
[1] P. Türschmann, et al, Nano Lett.17, 4941 (2017).
[2] A. Maser, et al, Nature Photonics 10, 450 (2016).
[3] H. R. Haakh, et al, Phys. Rev. A 94, 053840 (2016).
[4] N. Rotenberg, et al, Opt. Express 25, 5397 (2017).
[5] D. Wang, et al, Phys. Rev. X 7, 021014 (2017).
