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Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics

Coherent Coupling of Single Molecules to a Chip-Based Optical Circuit

Dominik Rattenbacher, Alexey Shkarin, Jan Renger, Tobias Utikal, Stephan Götzinger, Vahid Sandoghdar

Published Jan 1, 2019• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present the coherent coupling of single dye molecules to subwavelength waveguides (nanoguides) and microresonators made of TiO2 on a chip. Integrated electrodes allow us to tune several molecules into resonance via the Stark effect.
DOI
10.1364/cleo_qels.2019.fm1m.4

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We present the coherent coupling of single dye molecules to subwavelength waveguides (nanoguides) and microresonators made of TiO 2 on a chip. Integrated electrodes allow us to tune several molecules into resonance via the Stark effect. © 2019 The Author(s)

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Many interesting proposals in quantum optics and light-matter interaction rely on having multiple quantum emitters well-coupled to a single mode of light. Of particular interest are cases where several identical emitters couple to a one-dimensional (1D) photonic medium. Recently, we presented such a system by evanescent coupling of organic dye molecules to the same guided mode of an on-chip subwavelength waveguide [1]. While this coupling allowed us to demonstrate up to 7.5% transmission extinction of the propagating light by a single molecule, it is still not sufficient for achieving higher-order effects such as photon-mediated interaction of multiple emitters coupled to the same waveguide.
Optical studies of single emitters have become routine for a number of systems ranging from atoms and ions in the gas phase to molecules, color centers and quantum dots in the solid-state. A new direction in experimental quantum optics is to exploit this know-how to assemble well-defined arrangements of optically coupled emitters for investigating quantum many-body physics. However, common approaches via strong focusing or cavity quantum electrodynamics do not scale favorably. We developed a scalable light-matter interface by coupling organic dye molecules to subwavelength dielectric waveguides (nanoguides). Their small effective mode area gives rise to substantial single-emitter coupling efficiencies with expected values up to 35%. By combining high-resolution microscopy with fluorescence excitation and resonance fluorescence spectroscopy, we study the coupled nano-guide-emitter system. Our results demonstrate the versatility of the geometry for reaching high optical densities and yet maintaining the addressability of each single emitter. We show that we can couple several thousand molecules simultaneously and coherently to a single guided mode, while their nearly lifetime-limited resonances are inhomogeneously distributed. The optical response of the coupled nanoguide-emitter system can be controlled by modifying the molecular electronic states either via static electric or external optical fields. Here, a pump beam can switch and even coherently amplify a weak laser beam that probes the inherent nonlinearity of a single molecule. Moreover, we gain local control of the molecular resonance frequencies via the dc Stark effect by applying static electric fields on microelectrodes integrated along our chip-compatible nanoguides. Exploiting this tunability allows us to match the resonance frequencies of two molecules that are coherently coupled to the same waveguide mode. All these crucial ingredients, a scalable light-matter interface, high optical densities, external control over the molecular resonance frequencies and their nonlinear response, open up realistic prospects for investigating small, but well-defined networks of quantum emitters coherently coupled via a shared guided mode.
Summary form only given. A current challenge and trend in optical sciences is to extend the toolbox generated from experiments with single emitters and single photons towards interfacing photons with a well-defined number of quantum emitters. The resulting complex optical network would enable studies of many-body quantum optical phenomena and could lend itself to quantum simulations. However, common light-matter interfaces via strong focusing or cavity enhancement do not scale favourably. Therefore, achieving many-body coupling while preserving control of the individual quantum systems poses remarkable experimental challenges.Here, we present an inherently scalable platform, which relies on the evanescent coupling of single dye molecules to subwavelength TiO2waveguides (nanoguides) that are embedded in an organic matrix (Fig. 1a). At liquid helium temperatures, we observe lifetime-limited linewidths for these molecules distributed over an inhomogeneously broadened spectrum. However, by using integrated microelectrodes, we can Stark shift the resonances over a large bandwidth. The dopant concentration determines the optical density of our system which can reach up to a few hundred molecules per cubic wavelength. The highly confined mode of a nanoguide allows a substantial mode overlap with the emission pattern of a single emitter, resulting in coupling efficiencies of up to 32%. Therefore, we can observe coherent extinction signals from many different molecules in the transmission signal of a nanoguide; an example is shown by the blue curve in Fig. 1b [1]. The green and red curves in Fig. 1b demonstrate the nonlinear behaviour of a molecule when driven with a second narrow-band laser [1, 2]. We show that by modifying the spectral properties of the molecules either via external optical or static electric fields we control the optical response of a nanoguide. In addition to discussing subtleties of design and fabrication, we elaborate on future efforts towards the realization of on-chip polaritonic states [3] and the integration of further optical elements such as micoresonators [4].
Integrated photonic circuits offer a promising route for studying coherent cooperative effects of a controlled collection of quantum emitters. However, spectral inhomogeneities, decoherence, and material incompatibilities in the solid state make this a nontrivial task. Here, we demonstrate efficient coupling of a pair of Fourier-limited organic molecules embedded in a polyethylene film to a TiO2 microdisc resonator on a glass chip. Moreover, we tune the resonance frequencies of the emitters with respect to that of the microresonator by employing nanofabricated electrodes. For two molecules separated by a distance of about 8 µm and an optical phase difference of about π/2, we report on a large collective extinction of the incident light in the forward direction and the destructive interference of its scattering in the backward direction. Our work sets the ground for coherent coupling of several quantum emitters via a common mode and realization of polymer-based hybrid quantum photonic circuits.