Photonic band gaps and molecular fluorescence

Szu-Cheng Cheng, Jing-Nuo Wu, Ting-Wei Chen

Aleksandr N. Naumov, Richard B. Miles, P. F. Barker +1 more

It is shown that the combination of resonance-enhanced dispersion of an atomic or molecular gas with the dispersion of a photonic band-gap (PBG) structure gives rise to new features in the dispersion and transmission of a hybrid resonant gas/PBG system, including the appearance of narrow passbands in the hand gap and stop bands outside the band gap, as well as the enhancement of the dispersion of the structure within a narrow spectral range. The possibility of creating narrow-passband and narrow-stopband filters and ultrarefractive prisms combining the dispersion properties of resonant gases and PBG structures is demonstrated. Transmissive and dispersive properties of gas-filled PBG structures can be controlled by varying the gas pressure and by tuning the band gap with respect to the frequency of an atomic or molecular resonance in a gas. Gas-filled two-dimensional PBG structures can be used for numerous high-resolution and high-precision spectroscopic applications, as well as for spectrally resolved Raman imaging of gas flows and plasmas.

Yinchieh Lai

Axel André, Mikhail D. Lukin

Svetlana G. Lukishova

An efficient technique for producing deterministically polarized single photons uses liquid-crystal hosts of either monomeric or oligomeric/polymeric form to preferentially align the single emitters for maximum excitation efficiency. Deterministic molecular alignment also provides deterministically polarized output photons; using planar-aligned cholesteric liquid crystal hosts as 1-D photonic-band-gap microcavities tunable to the emitter fluorescence band to increase source efficiency, using liquid crystal technology to prevent emitter bleaching. Emitters comprise soluble dyes, inorganic nanocrystals or trivalent rare-earth chelates.

Jamie M. Leeder, David S. Bradshaw, Mathew D. Williams +1 more