Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Journal of the Korean Physical Society

Emission rate and collection efficiency of photons from single terrylene molecules: Dependency on the substrate and the collection lens

Kwang-Geol Lee

Published Jun 1, 2014• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Photons emitted from a single emitter are promising candidates for an efficient single-photon source, which is essential for many novel nano- and quantum-optical applications. As a photon source having a larger flux and high reliability is highly desirable. In this paper, we quantitatively studied the dependencies of the numbers of photons emitted and collected from single terrylene molecules on different experimental conditions, the refractive index of the substrate and the numerical aperture of the collection lens. Also, back-focal plane images are used to visualize the emission pattern of a single emitter.

DOI
10.3938/jkps.64.1797

Related papers

Statistical analysis of photons from a single terrylene molecule for the study of the energy level scheme

Kwang-Geol Lee

Single photons from single emitters are good candidates for a high-quality single-photon source which is essential in current quantum optical experiments and applications. Because the statistics of emitted photons is mainly determined by the energy level structure of the system, knowing the correct level scheme and the transition rates between levels is of primary importance. In this work, the energy level scheme and the photon-emission statistics of a single terrylene molecule are studied by measuring the second-order correlation function and the time trace of the emitted photons. The details in the measurement and analysis are discussed, and a more advanced energy-level structure of the terrylene molecule is suggested.

Journal of the Korean Physical Society•Jun 1, 2014•4 citations

Single-photon sources based on single molecules in solids

W. E. Moerner

Single molecules in suitable host crystals have been demonstrated to be useful single-photon emitters both at liquid-helium temperatures and at room temperature. The low-temperature source achieved controllable emission of single photons from a single terrylene molecule in p -terphenyl by an adiabatic rapid passage technique. In contrast with almost all other single-molecule systems, terrylene single molecules show extremely high photostability under continuous, high-intensity irradiation. A room-temperature source utilizing this material has been demonstrated, in which fast pumping into vibrational sidebands of the electronically excited state achieved efficient inversion of the emissive level. This source yielded a single-photon emission probability p (1) of 0.86 at a detected count rate near 300 000 photons s −1 , with very small probability of emission of more than one photon. Thus, single molecules in solids can be considered as contenders for applications of single-photon sources such as quantum key distribution.

New Journal of Physics•Jul 30, 2004•63 citations

Highly efficient, tunable single photon source based on single molecules

Mathias Bernhard Steiner, Achim Hartschuh, Rafal A. Korlacki +1 more

The authors studied spatially isolated terrylene molecules immobilized in a quasiplanar optical λ∕2-microresonator using confocal microscopy and spectroscopy at variable temperatures. At T=1.8K, they observed individual molecules relaxing into microresonator-allowed vibronic levels of their electronic ground state by emission of single fluorescence photons. Coupling the purely electronic transition of embedded molecules to the longitudinal photonic mode of the microresonator resulted in an ultimate spectral narrowing and an increased collection efficiency of the emitted single photon wave trains.

Applied Physics Letters•Apr 30, 2007•35 citations

99% efficiency in collecting photons from a single emitter

Xuewen Chen, Stephan Götzinger, Vahid Sandoghdar

In a previous paper [Nat. Photon. 5, 166 (2011)], we reported on a planar dielectric antenna that achieved 96% efficiency in collecting the photons emitted by a single molecule. In that work, the transition dipole moment of the molecule was set perpendicular to the antenna plane. Here, we present a theoretical extension of that scheme that reaches collection efficiencies beyond 99% for emitters with arbitrarily oriented dipole moments. Our work opens important doors in a wide range of contexts including quantum optics, quantum metrology, nanoanalytics, and biophysics. In particular, we provide antenna parameters to realize ultrabright single-photon sources in high-index materials such as semiconductor quantum dots and color centers in diamond, as well as sensitive detection of single molecules in nanofluidic devices.

arXiv:1106.3024•Optics Letters•Sep 6, 2011•67 citations

Dipole emitters in fiber: interface effects, collection efficiency and optimization

Matthew R. Henderson, Shahraam Afshar V., Andrew D. Greentree +1 more

Single photon emitters coupled to optical fibers are becoming important as sources of non-classical light and nano-scale sensors. At present it is not possible to efficiently interface single photon emitters with the optical fiber platform, and there are particular challenges associated with the need to ensure highly efficient collection and delivery of emitted photons. To model single particle emission, we have considered the coupling of a dipole to an optical fiber mode as a function of orientation and position with respect to the core-cladding interface. Our model shows that it is possible to significantly enhance the collection efficiency into the guided modes as a result of modifications to the dipole emission pattern and power resulting from the surrounding fiber environment. For certain geometries the fiber-dipole coupling can result in a factor of 2.6 increase in the power emitted by the dipole.

Optics Express•Aug 9, 2011•26 citations

En route to nanoscopic quantum optical imaging: counting emitters with photon-number-resolving detectors

Shuo Li, Wenchao Li, Vladislav V. Yakovlev +2 more

The fundamental understanding of biological pathways requires minimally invasive nanoscopic optical resolution imaging. Many approaches to high-resolution imaging rely on localization of single emitters, such as fluorescent molecules or quantum dots. Additionally, the exact determination of the number of such emitters in an imaging volume is essential for a number of applications; however, in standard intensity-based microscopy it is not possible to determine the number of individual emitters within a diffraction limited spot without initial knowledge of system parameters. Here we explore how quantum measurements of the emitted photons using photon number resolving detectors can be used to address this challenging task. In the proposed new approach, the problem of counting emitters reduces to the task of determining differences between the emitted photon distribution and the Poisson limit. We show that quantum measurements of the number of photons emitted from an ensemble of emitters enable the determination of both the number of emitters and the probability of emission. This method can be applied for any type of single-photon emitters. The scaling laws of this new approach are presented by the Cramer-Rao Lower Bounds, and this technique has great potential in quantum optical imaging with nanoscopic resolution.

arXiv:2110.03893•Optics Express•Mar 21, 2022•7 citations
Photons emitted from a single emitter are promising candidates for an efficient single-photon source, which is essential for many novel nano- and quantum-optical applications. As a photon source having a larger flux and high reliability is highly desirable. In this paper, we quantitatively studied the dependencies of the numbers of photons emitted and collected from single terrylene molecules on different experimental conditions, the refractive index of the substrate and the numerical aperture of the collection lens. Also, back-focal plane images are used to visualize the emission pattern of a single emitter.
Single photons from single emitters are good candidates for a high-quality single-photon source which is essential in current quantum optical experiments and applications. Because the statistics of emitted photons is mainly determined by the energy level structure of the system, knowing the correct level scheme and the transition rates between levels is of primary importance. In this work, the energy level scheme and the photon-emission statistics of a single terrylene molecule are studied by measuring the second-order correlation function and the time trace of the emitted photons. The details in the measurement and analysis are discussed, and a more advanced energy-level structure of the terrylene molecule is suggested.
Single molecules in suitable host crystals have been demonstrated to be useful single-photon emitters both at liquid-helium temperatures and at room temperature. The low-temperature source achieved controllable emission of single photons from a single terrylene molecule in p -terphenyl by an adiabatic rapid passage technique. In contrast with almost all other single-molecule systems, terrylene single molecules show extremely high photostability under continuous, high-intensity irradiation. A room-temperature source utilizing this material has been demonstrated, in which fast pumping into vibrational sidebands of the electronically excited state achieved efficient inversion of the emissive level. This source yielded a single-photon emission probability p (1) of 0.86 at a detected count rate near 300 000 photons s −1 , with very small probability of emission of more than one photon. Thus, single molecules in solids can be considered as contenders for applications of single-photon sources such as quantum key distribution.
The authors studied spatially isolated terrylene molecules immobilized in a quasiplanar optical λ∕2-microresonator using confocal microscopy and spectroscopy at variable temperatures. At T=1.8K, they observed individual molecules relaxing into microresonator-allowed vibronic levels of their electronic ground state by emission of single fluorescence photons. Coupling the purely electronic transition of embedded molecules to the longitudinal photonic mode of the microresonator resulted in an ultimate spectral narrowing and an increased collection efficiency of the emitted single photon wave trains.
In a previous paper [Nat. Photon. 5, 166 (2011)], we reported on a planar dielectric antenna that achieved 96% efficiency in collecting the photons emitted by a single molecule. In that work, the transition dipole moment of the molecule was set perpendicular to the antenna plane. Here, we present a theoretical extension of that scheme that reaches collection efficiencies beyond 99% for emitters with arbitrarily oriented dipole moments. Our work opens important doors in a wide range of contexts including quantum optics, quantum metrology, nanoanalytics, and biophysics. In particular, we provide antenna parameters to realize ultrabright single-photon sources in high-index materials such as semiconductor quantum dots and color centers in diamond, as well as sensitive detection of single molecules in nanofluidic devices.
Single photon emitters coupled to optical fibers are becoming important as sources of non-classical light and nano-scale sensors. At present it is not possible to efficiently interface single photon emitters with the optical fiber platform, and there are particular challenges associated with the need to ensure highly efficient collection and delivery of emitted photons. To model single particle emission, we have considered the coupling of a dipole to an optical fiber mode as a function of orientation and position with respect to the core-cladding interface. Our model shows that it is possible to significantly enhance the collection efficiency into the guided modes as a result of modifications to the dipole emission pattern and power resulting from the surrounding fiber environment. For certain geometries the fiber-dipole coupling can result in a factor of 2.6 increase in the power emitted by the dipole.
The fundamental understanding of biological pathways requires minimally invasive nanoscopic optical resolution imaging. Many approaches to high-resolution imaging rely on localization of single emitters, such as fluorescent molecules or quantum dots. Additionally, the exact determination of the number of such emitters in an imaging volume is essential for a number of applications; however, in standard intensity-based microscopy it is not possible to determine the number of individual emitters within a diffraction limited spot without initial knowledge of system parameters. Here we explore how quantum measurements of the emitted photons using photon number resolving detectors can be used to address this challenging task. In the proposed new approach, the problem of counting emitters reduces to the task of determining differences between the emitted photon distribution and the Poisson limit. We show that quantum measurements of the number of photons emitted from an ensemble of emitters enable the determination of both the number of emitters and the probability of emission. This method can be applied for any type of single-photon emitters. The scaling laws of this new approach are presented by the Cramer-Rao Lower Bounds, and this technique has great potential in quantum optical imaging with nanoscopic resolution.