Emission of a single colloidal quantum dot in a patch antenna

In the study of light-matter interaction significant efforts have attempt to improve the coupling between single quantum emitters and metallic sub-wavelength nanostructures.  A patch antenna [1] has already demonstrated... [ view full abstract ]

In the study of light-matter interaction significant efforts have attempt to improve the coupling between single quantum emitters and metallic sub-wavelength nanostructures.  A patch antenna [1] has already demonstrated strong acceleration of spontaneous emission and control of radiation pattern when aggregates of nanocrystals (around 50) were coupled to a plasmonic patch antenna. Purcell factor (ratio of LDOS with and without antenna) of 80 has been obtained [2].

The design of a patch antenna consists of a metal-insulator-metal structure where a thick gold layer is used as an optical mirror and a thin gold nanodisk is placed some nanometers above the emitter using in-situ optical lithography protocol [3]. The thickness of the spacer between both metallic layers should ensure the excitation of surface plasmon polariton modes (SPP’s) and leads the maximum confined field avoiding quenching due to non-radiative channels.

We will present the fabrication of a deterministic plasmonic patch antenna when a single CdSe/CdS colloidal quantum dot is used as source of light. Depending of the dimension of the patch antenna and the emitter orientation, different Purcell factors could be achieved leading to different optical properties. For moderate Purcell factors, patch antennas are single photon sources. For higher Purcell factors, the spontaneous emission acceleration makes the multiexciton radiative recombination competitive with Auger recombination. Very bright and efficient antennas could be achieved.

[1] R. Esteban, T.V. Teperik, J.J. Greffet, “Optical patch antennas for single photon emission using plasmonic resonance”, Phys. Rev. Lett.104, 026802 (2010).

[2] C. Belacel, B. Habert, F. Bigourdan, F. Marquier, J-P. Hugonin, S. Michaelis de Vasconcellos, X. Lafosse, L. Coolen, C. Schwob, C. Javaux, B. Dubertret, J-J. Greffet, P. Senellart, A. Maître, Controlling spontaneous emission with plasmonic optical patch antennas, Nanoletters13 1516 (2013).

[3] Dousse, A. et al. Controlled light-matter coupling for a single quantum dot embedded in a pillar microcavity using far-field optical lithography. Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 267404 (2008).