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Applied Physics Letters

Oriented semiconducting polymer nanostructures as on-demand room-temperature single-photon sources

Tae-Hee Lee, Pradeep Kumar, Adosh Mehta, Kewei Xu, Robert M. Dickson, Michael D. Barnes

Published Jun 26, 2004• 30 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We show that oriented nanostructures from single molecules of a conducting polymer act as highly robust room-temperature single-photon sources. Individual z-oriented polymer nanostructures show high-contrast photon antibunching with a modulation depth exceeding 90%. These results suggest the feasibility of a “push-button” technology for polymer-based single-photon sources in photonic-based quantum information processing applications.

DOI
10.1063/1.1768301

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We show that oriented nanostructures from single molecules of a conducting polymer act as highly robust room-temperature single-photon sources. Individual z-oriented polymer nanostructures show high-contrast photon antibunching with a modulation depth exceeding 90%. These results suggest the feasibility of a “push-button” technology for polymer-based single-photon sources in photonic-based quantum information processing applications.
We summarize recent experiments probing photon statistics and collective interactions amongst individual z-oriented semiconducting polymer nanostructures. We show that oriented nanostructures from single molecules of a conducting polymer act as highly robust room-temperature single-photon sources. These results suggest the feasibility of an inexpensive "push-button" technology for polymer-based single-photon sources in photonic-based quantum information processing applications. In addition, fluorescence lifetime measurements on pairs of uniformly z-oriented polymer nanostructures that reveal far-field coherent coupling persisting on a distance scale of several optical wavelengths. Farfield photonic coupling between pairs of oriented luminescent polymer nanostructures is manifested by an oscillatory modulation in the fluorescence decay rate as a function of interparticle distance (both enhancement and inhibition of spontaneous luminescence relative to isolated particles), that results from modification of the vacuum field at the position of the probe dipole by the presence of the second radiating dipole.
High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide Single photon sources are fundamental for applications in quantum computing, secure communication, and sensing, as they enable the generation of individual photons and ensure strict control over photon number statistics. However, current single photon sources can be limited by a lack of robustness, difficulty of integration into existing optical or electronic devices, and high cost. In this study, we present the use of off-the-shelf C 60 fullerene molecules embedded in polystyrene as room-temperature reliable single-photon emitters. As our results demonstrate, these molecules exhibit on-demand single-photon emission, with short fluorescence lifetimes and, consequently, high emission rates. The wide availability and ease of preparation and manipulation of fullerenes as single photon sources can pave the way for the development of practical, economic and scalable quantum photonic technologies.
Applications in nanophotonics and optical quantum information processing often require just one photon at a time. Although typical single-photon emitters rely on electronic states localized at the nanometer scale, the authors find that carbon nanotubes over 2 $\ensuremath{\mu}$m long exhibit photon antibunching at room temperature. Monte Carlo simulations and first-passage theory reveal that high-purity single-photon emission from this system is possible in principle, by means of efficient exciton-exciton annihilation. These results point to design strategies for single-photon sources, and provide important insight into excitonic processes in carbon nanotubes.
We report on new approaches toward an implementation of an efficient, room temperature, deterministically polarized, single-photon source (SPS) on demand-a key hardware element for quantum information and quantum communication. Operation of a room temperature SPS is demonstrated via photon antibunching in the fluorescence from single terrylene-dye molecules embedded in a cholesteric liquid crystal host. Using oxygen-depleted liquid crystal hosts, dye-bleaching was avoided over the course of more than 1 h of continuous 532-nm excitation. Liquid crystal hosts (including liquid crystal oligomers/polymers) permit further increase of the efficiency of the source: 1) by aligning the dye molecules along a direction preferable for maximum excitation efficiency; 2) by tuning a one-dimensional (1-D) photonic-band-gap microcavity of planar-aligned cholesteric (chiral nematic) liquid crystal layer to the dye fluorescence band.
The development of a robust light source that emits one photon at a time is an outstanding challenge in quantum science and technology. Here, at the transition from many to single photon optical communication systems, fully quantum mechanical effects may be utilized to achieve new capabilities, most notably perfectly secure communication via quantum cryptography. Practical implementations place stringent requirements on the device properties, including stable photon generation, room temperature operation, and efficient extraction of many photons. Single photon light emitting devices based on fluorescent dye molecules, quantum dots, and carbon nanotube material systems have all been explored, but none have simultaneously demonstrated all criteria. Here, we describe the design, fabrication, and characterization of a bright source of single photons consisting of an individual Nitrogen-vacancy color center (NV center) in a diamond nanowire operating in ambient conditions. The nanowire plays a positive role in increasing the number of single photons collected from the NV center by an order of magnitude over devices based on bulk diamond crystals, and allows operation at an order of magnitude lower power levels. This result enables a new class of nanostructured diamond devices for room temperature photonic and quantum information processing applications, and will also impact fields as diverse as biological and chemical sensing, opto-mechanics, and scanning-probe microscopy.
Abstract Non-classical photon sources are a crucial resource for distributed quantum networks. Photons generated from matter systems with memory capability are particularly promising, as they can be integrated into a network where each source is used on-demand. Among all kinds of solid state and atomic quantum memories, room-temperature atomic vapours are especially attractive due to their robustness and potential scalability. To-date room-temperature photon sources have been limited either in their memory time or the purity of the photonic state. Here we demonstrate a single-photon source based on room-temperature memory. Following heralded loading of the memory, a single photon is retrieved from it after a variable storage time. The single-photon character of the retrieved field is validated by the strong suppression of the two-photon component with antibunching as low as gRR∣W=1(2)=0.20±0.07{g}_{{\rm{RR| W = 1}}}^{(2)}=0.20\pm 0.07gRR∣W=1(2)​=0.20±0.07 g RR∣W=1 ( 2 ) = 0.20 ± 0.07 . Non-classical correlations between the heralding and the retrieved photons are maintained for up to τNCR=(0.68±0.08) ms{\tau }_{{\rm{NC}}}^{{\mathcal{R}}}=(0.68\pm 0.08)\ {\rm{ms}}τNCR​=(0.68±0.08) ms τ NC R = ( 0.68 ± 0.08 ) ms , more than two orders of magnitude longer than previously demonstrated with other room-temperature systems. Correlations sufficient for violating Bell inequalities exist for up to τBI = (0.15 ± 0.03) ms.