37 research outputs found

    Coupling of individual quantum emitters to channel plasmons.

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    Efficient light-matter interaction lies at the heart of many emerging technologies that seek on-chip integration of solid-state photonic systems. Plasmonic waveguides, which guide the radiation in the form of strongly confined surface plasmon-polariton modes, represent a promising solution to manipulate single photons in coplanar architectures with unprecedented small footprints. Here we demonstrate coupling of the emission from a single quantum emitter to the channel plasmon polaritons supported by a V-groove plasmonic waveguide. Extensive theoretical simulations enable us to determine the position and orientation of the quantum emitter for optimum coupling. Concomitantly with these predictions, we demonstrate experimentally that 42% of a single nitrogen-vacancy centre emission efficiently couples into the supported modes of the V-groove. This work paves the way towards practical realization of efficient and long distance transfer of energy for integrated solid-state quantum systems.E.B.-U., R.M., M.G. and R.Q. acknowledge the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (grant ERC- Plasmolight; no. 259196) and Fundació privada CELLEX. E.B.-U. acknowledges support of the FPI fellowship from the Spanish MICINN. R.M. acknowledges support of Marie Curie and NEST fellowships. C.G.-B. and F.J.G.-V. acknowledge the European Research Council (ERC-2011-AdG, Proposal No. 290981). C.G.-B., E.M., and F.J.G.-V. acknowledge the Spanish MINECO (Contract No. MAT2011-28581-C02-01). C.G.-B. acknowledges support of the FPU fellowship from the Spanish MECD. I.P.R., T.H. and S.I.B. acknowledge financial support for this work from the Danish Council for Independent Research (the FTP project ANAP, Contract No. 09-072949) and from the European Research Council, Grant No. 341054 (PLAQNAP). Y.A. acknowledges the support of RYC-2011-08471 fellowship from MICINN. We thank Luis Martin-Moreno and Cesar E. García for fruitful discussions, Jana M. Say and Louise J. Brown for providing the ND solution, and Ioannis Tsioutsios for support with the AFM manipulation technique.This is the final published version. It first appeared at http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/150807/ncomms8883/full/ncomms8883.html

    Plasmonic Waveguide-Integrated Nanowire Laser

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    Next-generation optoelectronic devices and photonic circuitry will have to incorporate on-chip compatible nanolaser sources. Semiconductor nanowire lasers have emerged as strong candidates for integrated systems with applications ranging from ultrasensitive sensing to data communication technologies. Despite significant advances in their fundamental aspects, the integration within scalable photonic circuitry remains challenging. Here we report on the realization of hybrid photonic devices consisting of nanowire lasers integrated with wafer-scale lithographically designed V-groove plasmonic waveguides. We present experimental evidence of the lasing emission and coupling into the propagating modes of the V-grooves, enabling on-chip routing of coherent and sub diffraction confined light with room temperature operation. Theoretical considerations suggest that the observed lasing is enabled by a waveguide hybrid photonic-plasmonic mode. This work represents a major advance toward the realization of application-oriented photonic circuits with integrated nanolaser sources

    A plasmonic 'antenna-in-box' platform for enhanced single-molecule analysis at micromolar concentrations

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    International audienceSingle molecule fluorescence techniques [1-3] are key for several applications including DNA sequencing [4, 5], molecular and cell biology [6, 7], and early diagnosis [8]. Unfortunately, observation of single molecules by diffraction-limited optics is restricted to detection volumes in the femtolitre range and imperatively requires pico-or nanomolar concentrations, far below the micromolar range where most biological reactions occur [2]. This limitation can be overcome using plasmonic nanostructures, and confinement of light down to nanoscale volumes has been reported [9-13]. While these nanoantennas enhance fluorescence brightness [14-20], large background signals [20-22] and/or unspecific binding to the metallic surface [23-25] has hampered the detection of individual fluorescent molecules in solution at high concentrations. Here we introduce a novel "antenna-in-box" platform that is based on a gap-antenna inside a nanoaperture. This design combines fluorescent signal enhancement and background screening, offering high single molecule sensitivity (fluorescence enhancement up to 1100 folds and microsecond transit time) at micromolar sample concentrations and zeptolitre-range detection volumes. The antennain-box device can be optimized for single molecule fluorescence studies at physiologicallyrelevant concentrations, as we demonstrate using various biomolecules. Our antenna-in-box design is shown in Figure 1a and b. The rationale behind our design is that in any nanoantenna experiment on molecules in solution, the observed fluorescence signal is a sum of two contributions: the enhanced fluorescence from the few molecules in the nanoantenna gap region (ho
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