Quantum emitters

Lukas Novotny; Bert Hecht

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511794193.011

9 - Quantum emitters

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2012

Lukas Novotny and

Bert Hecht

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Lukas Novotny: Affiliation:
University of Rochester, New York and ETH Zürich, Switzerland
Bert Hecht: Affiliation:
Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany

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Summary

The interaction of light with nanoscale structures is at the core of nano-optics. As the structures become smaller and smaller the laws of quantum mechanics will become apparent. In this limit, the discrete nature of atomic states gives rise to resonant light-matter interactions. In atoms, molecules, and nanoparticles, such as semiconductor nanocrystals and other “quantum confined” systems, these resonances occur when the photon energy matches the energy difference of discrete internal (electronic) energy levels. Owing to the resonant character, light-matter interaction can often be approximated by treating these quantum emitters as effective two-level systems, i.e. by considering only those two (electronic) levels whose difference in energy is close to the interacting photon energy ħω0.

In this chapter we discuss quantum emitters that are used in optical experiments. We will discuss their use as single-photon sources and analyze their photon statistics. While the radiative properties of quantum emitters have been discussed in Chapter 8, this chapter focuses on the properties of the quantum emitters themselves. We adopt a rather practical perspective since more detailed accounts can be found elsewhere (see e.g. [1–4]).

Types of quantum emitters

The possibility of detecting single quantum emitters optically relies mostly on the fact that redshifted emission can be very efficiently discriminated against excitation light [5, 6]. This opens the road for experiments in which the properties of these emitters are studied or in which they are used as discrete light sources.

Type: Chapter
Information: Principles of Nano-Optics , pp. 282 - 312

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511794193.011 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2012

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