8 pages, 3 figures and supplementary material (Mathematica code). This is the published version: typos are fixed, conclusion section is expanded, references are updated
We show how to calculate the first- and second-order statistics of the scattered fields for an arbitrary intensity coherent state light field interacting with a two-level system in a waveguide geometry. Specifically, we calculate the resonance fluorescence from the qubit, using input-output formalism. We derive the transmission and reflection coefficients, and illustrate the bunching and anti-bunching of light that is scattered in the forward and backward directions, respectively. Our results agree with previous calculations on one- and two-photon scattering as well as those that are based on the master equation approach.
In this letter, the leakage radiation microscopy (LRM) is extended into characterization of planar waveguide modes (WMs) rather than surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) taking advantages of the coupling between WMs and fluorescence emission. Propagation constants of different WMs allowed in the same planar waveguide can be simultaneously and rapidly derived from the Fourier plane image of fluorescence based LRM. Numerical simulations are also carried out to calculate propagation constants of these modes, which are consistent with experimental results. Our experiments provide a simple but high ef…
We present a study of the highly nonlinear optical excitation of noble gases in tapered hollow waveguides using few-femtosecond laser pulses. The local plasmonic field enhancement induces the generation of a nanometric plasma, resulting in incoherent extreme-ultraviolet fluorescence from optical transitions of neutral and ionized xenon, argon, and neon. Despite sufficient intensity in the waveguide, high-order harmonic generation is not observed. The fluorescent emission exhibits a strong bistability manifest as an intensity hysteresis, giving strong indications for multistep collisional excit…
Single-molecule approaches to biology offer a powerful new vision to elucidate the mechanisms that underpin the functioning of living cells. However, conventional optical single molecule spectroscopy techniques such as Förster fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) or fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) are limited by diffraction to the nanomolar concentration range, far below the physiological micromolar concentration range where most biological reaction occur. To breach the diffraction limit, zero mode waveguides and plasmonic antennas exploit the surface plasmon resonances to…
Semiconductor quantum dots embedded in micro-pillar cavities are excellent emitters of single photons when pumped resonantly. Often, the same spatial mode is used to both resonantly excite a quantum dot and to collect the emitted single photons, requiring cross-polarization to reduce the uncoupled scattered laser light. This inherently reduces the source brightness to 50 %. Critically, for some quantum applications the total efficiency from generation to detection must be over 50 %. Here, we demonstrate a resonant-excitation approach to creating single photons that is free of any cross-polariz…
Scalable quantum photonic networks require coherent excitation of quantum emitters. However, many solid-state systems can undergo a transition to a dark shelving state that inhibits the fluorescence. Here we demonstrate that a controlled gating using a weak non-resonant laser, the resonant excitation can be recovered and amplified for single germanium vacancies (GeVs). Employing the gated resonance excitation, we achieve optically stable resonance fluorescence of GeV centers. Our results are pivotal for the deployment of diamond color centers as reliable building blocks for scalable solid stat…
Intensity squeezing, i.e., photon number fluctuations below the shot noise limit, is a fundamental aspect of quantum optics and has wide applications in quantum metrology. It was predicted in 1979 that the intensity squeezing could be observed in resonance fluorescence from a two-level quantum system. Yet, its experimental observation in solid states was hindered by inefficiencies in generating, collecting and detecting resonance fluorescence. Here, we report the intensity squeezing in a single-mode fibre-coupled resonance fluorescence single-photon source based on a quantum dot-micropillar sy…
Zero-mode waveguide (ZMW) nanoapertures are widely used to monitor single molecules beyond the range accessible to normal microscopes. However, several aspects of the ZMW influence on the photophysics of fluorophores remain inadequately documented and sometimes controversial. Here, we thoroughly investigate the ZMW influence on the fluorescence of single immobilized Cy3B and Alexa 647 molecules, detailing the interplays between brightness, lifetime, photobleaching time, total number of emitted photons and Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET). Despite the plasmonic-enhanced excitation inten…
Efficient on-chip integration of single-photon emitters imposes a major bottleneck for applications of photonic integrated circuits in quantum technologies. Resonantly excited solid-state emitters are emerging as near-optimal quantum light sources, if not for the lack of scalability of current devices. Current integration approaches rely on cost-inefficient individual emitter placement in photonic integrated circuits, rendering applications impossible. A promising scalable platform is based on two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors. However, resonant excitation and single-photon emission of waveg…
We study the resonance fluorescence in the Jaynes-Cummings model when nearby levels are taking into account. We show that the Stark shift produced by such levels generates a displacement of the peaks of the resonance fluorescence due to an induced effective detuning and also induces an asymmetry. Specific results are presented assuming a coherent and a thermal fields.
Solid-state quantum sensors are attracting wide interest because of their exceptional sensitivity at room temperature. In particular, the spin properties of individual nitrogen vacancy (NV) color centers in diamond make it an outstanding nanoscale sensor of magnetic fields, electric fields, and temperature, under ambient conditions. Recent work on ensemble NV-based magnetometers, inertial sensors, and clocks have employed $N$ unentangled color centers to realize a factor of up to $\sqrt{N}$ improvement in sensitivity. However, to realize fully this signal enhancement, new techniques are requir…
We report on resonance fluorescence from a single quantum dot emitting at telecom wavelengths. We perform high-resolution spectroscopy and observe the Mollow triplet in the Rabi regime--a hallmark of resonance fluorescence. The measured resonance-fluorescence spectra allow us to rule out pure dephasing as a significant decoherence mechanism in these quantum dots. Combined with numerical simulations, the experimental results provide robust characterisation of charge noise in the environment of the quantum dot. Resonant control of the quantum dot opens up new possibilities for on-demand generati…
Optically active quantum dots, for instance self-assembled InGaAs quantum dots, are potentially excellent single photon sources. The fidelity of the single photons is much improved using resonant rather than non-resonant excitation. With resonant excitation, the challenge is to distinguish between resonance fluorescence and scattered laser light. We have met this challenge by creating a polarization-based dark-field microscope to measure the resonance fluorescence from a single quantum dot at low temperature. We achieve a suppression of the scattered laser exceeding a factor of 10^7 and backgr…
Strong light-matter interaction and high-efficiency optical collection of fluorescence from quantum emitters are crucial topics in quantum and nanophotonic fields. High-quality cavities, dispersive photonic crystal waveguides and even plasmonic structures have been used to enhance the interaction with quantum emitters, thus realize efficient collection of the fluorescence. In this work, a new method is proposed to collect the fluorescence of quantum dots (QDs) with a fiber-integrated multimode silver nanowire (AgNW) waveguide. Fluorescence lifetime measurement is performed to investigate the c…
We investigate the spectrum of the resonance fluorescence from the lateral triple quantum dots controlled by voltage and obtain some interesting features such as controllable triple narrow peaks. In our system we use tunneling instead of coupling lasers, and the positions, widths and heights of the resonance fluorescence peaks can be controlled by tuning the tunneling couplings. We explain the observed spectrum with the transition properties of the dressed states generated by the coupling of the two tunneling and the laser field. These features can also be viewed as the effects of Spontaneousl…
We demonstrate a superconducting artificial atom with strong unidirectional coupling to a microwave photonic waveguide. Our artificial atom is realized by coupling a transmon qubit to the waveguide at two spatially separated points with time-modulated interactions. Direction-sensitive interference arising from the parametric couplings in our scheme results in a non-reciprocal response, where we measure a forward/backward ratio of spontaneous emission exceeding 100. We verify the quantum nonlinear behavior of this artificial chiral atom by measuring the resonance fluorescence spectrum under a s…
We use a laser-driven single (In,Ga)As quantum dot (QD) in the dressed state regime of resonance fluorescence ($T = 4$ K) to observe the four $D_1$-transition lines of alkali atomic cesium ($Cs$) vapor at room temperature. We tune the frequency of the dressing continuous-wave laser in the vicinity of the bare QD resonance $\sim 335.116$ THz ($\sim 894.592$ nm) at constant excitation power and thereby controllably tune the center and side channel frequencies of the probe light, i.e. the Mollow triplet. Resonances between individual QD Mollow triplet lines and the atomic hyperfine-split transiti…
We report on the experimental demonstration of the broadband "trapped rainbow" in the visible range using arrays of adiabatically tapered optical nano waveguides. Being a distinct case of the slow light phenomenon, the trapped rainbow effect could be applied to optical signal processing, and sensing in such applications as spectroscopy on a chip, and to providing enhanced light-matter interactions. As an example of the latter applications, we have fabricated a large area array of tapered nano-waveguides, which exhibit broadband "trapped rainbow" effect. Considerable fluorescence enhancement du…
An atom in open space can be detected by means of resonant absorption and reemission of electromagnetic waves, known as resonance fluorescence, which is a fundamental phenomenon of quantum optics. We report on the observation of scattering of propagating waves by a single artificial atom. The behavior of the artificial atom, a superconducting macroscopic two-level system, is in a quantitative agreement with the predictions of quantum optics for a pointlike scatterer interacting with the electromagnetic field in one-dimensional open space. The strong atom-field interaction as revealed in a high…
We employ phase-sensitive amplification to perform homodyne detection of the resonance fluorescence from a driven superconducting artificial atom. Entanglement between the emitter and its fluorescence allows us to track the individual quantum state trajectories of the emitter conditioned on the outcomes of the field measurements. We analyze the ensemble properties of these trajectories by considering trajectories that connect specific initial and final states. By applying the stochastic path integral formalism, we calculate equations-of-motion for the most likely path between two quantum state…
Single molecule detection provides detailed information about molecular structures and functions, but it generally requires the presence of a fluorescent marker which can interfere with the activity of the target molecule or complicate the sample production. Detecting a single protein with its natural UV autofluorescence is an attractive approach to avoid all the issues related to fluorescence labelling. However, the UV autofluorescence signal from a single protein is generally extremely weak. Here, we use aluminum plasmonics to enhance the tryptophan autofluorescence emission of single protei…
We show that the resonance shifts in the fluorescence of a cold gas of rubidium atoms substantially differ from those of thermal atomic ensembles that obey the standard continuous medium electrodynamics. The analysis is based on large-scale microscopic numerical simulations and experimental measurements of the resonance shifts in a steady-state response in light propagation.
We demonstrate importance of molecular multiple excitons and higher-order plasmons for both enhancement and quenching of resonance Raman and fluorescence of single dye molecule located at plasmonic hotspot under strong coupling regime. The multiple excitons induce complicated spectral changes in plasmon resonance and higher-order plasmons yield drastic quenching for both resonant Raman and fluorescence. A coupled oscillator model composed of plasmon and multiple excitons reproduces the complicated spectral changes. Purcell factors derived from higher-order plasmons reproduce the drastic quench…
We develop and analyze a theoretical model which yields the shifts and widths of Feshbach resonances in an atomic waveguide. It is based on a multichannel approach for confinement-induced resonances (CIRs) and atomic transitions in the waveguides in the multimode regime. We replace in this scheme the single-channel scalar interatomic interaction by the four-channel tensorial potential modeling resonances of broad, narrow and overlapping character according to the two-channel parametrization of A.D.Lange et al. As an input the experimentally known parameters of Feshbach resonances in the absenc…
The effect of thermal fluctuations in the resonance fluorescence of a three-level system is studied. The damped three-level system is driven by two strong incident classical fields near resonances frequencies. The simulation of a thermal bath is obtained with a large system of harmonic oscillators that represent the normal modes of the thermal radiation field. The time evolution of the fluorescent light intensities are obtained solving by a iterative method the Heisenberg equations of motion in the integral form. The results show that the time development of the intensity of the fluorescence l…
A classical optics waveguide structure is proposed to simulate resonances of short range one-dimensional potentials in quantum mechanics. The analogy is based on the well known resemblance between the guided and radiation modes of a waveguide with the bound and scattering states of a quantum well. As resonances are scattering states that spend some time in the zone of influence of the scatterer, we associate them with the leaky modes of a waveguide, the latter characterized by suffering attenuation in the direction of propagation but increasing exponentially in the transverse directions. The r…
A route toward lineshape engineering of Fano resonances in photonic structures is theoretically proposed, which uses dynamic modulation of the refractive index of a microcavity. The method is exemplified by considering coupled-resonator optical waveguide systems. An exact Floquet analysis, based on coupled-mode theory, is presented. Two distinct kinds of resonances can be dynamically created, depending on whether the static structure sustains a localized mode or not. In the former case a single Fano resonance arises, which can be tuned in both frequency and line width by varying the refractive…
The Mollow spectrum for the light scattered by a driven two-level atom is derived in the resolvent operator formalism. The derivation is based on the construction of a master equation from the resolvent operator of the atom-field system. We show that the natural linewidth of the excited atomic level remains essentially unmodified, to a very good level of approximation, even in the strong-field regime, where Rabi flopping becomes relevant inside the self-energy loop that yields the linewidth. This ensures that the obtained master equation and the spectrum derived matches that of Mollow.
Comment on "Enhanced transmission through periodic arrays of subwavelength holes: the role of localized waveguide resonances" [Phys.Rev.Lett. 96, 233901 (2006)]
We analytically study the spontaneous emission of a single optical dipole emitter in the vicinity of a plasmonic nanoshell, based on the Lorenz-Mie theory. We show that the fluorescence enhancement due to the coupling between optical emitter and sphere can be tuned by the aspect ratio of the core-shell nanosphere and by the distance between the quantum emitter and its surface. In particular, we demonstrate that both the enhancement and quenching of the fluorescence intensity are associated with plasmonic Fano resonances induced by near- and far-field interactions. These Fano resonances have as…
We demonstrate the appearance of unexpected reflection resonances in corrugated dielectric waveguides. These are due to the curvature of the boundary. The effect is as strong as the ordinary Bragg resonances, and reduces the transmission through our waveguide by 20%. It is thus of high relevance for the design of optimized waveguiding structures. We validate our analytical predictions based on coupled mode theory by a comparison to numerical simulations.
Systems with coupled cavities and waveguides have been demonstrated as optical switches and optical sensors. To optimize the functionalities of these optical devices, Fano resonance with asymmetric and steep spectral line shape has been used. We theoretically propose a coupled photonic crystal cavity-waveguide structure to achieve Fano resonance by placing partially reflecting elements in waveguide. To enhance Fano resonance, optical gain material is introduced into the cavity. As the gain increases, the transmission line shape becomes steepened and the transmissivity can be six times enhanced…
A peculiar property of complex scattering potentials is the appearance of spectral singularities. These are energy eigenvalues for certain scattering states that similarly to resonance states have infinite reflection and transmission coefficients. This property reveals an interesting resonance effect with possible applications in waveguide physics. We study the spectral singularities of a complex barrier potential and explore their application in designing a waveguide that functions as a resonator. We show that for the easily accessible sizes of the waveguide and its gain region, we can realiz…
The spectrum of resonance fluorescence is calculated for a two-level system excited by an intense, ultrashort x-ray pulse made available for instance by free-electron lasers such as the Linac Coherent Light Source. We allow for inner-shell hole decay widths and destruction of the system by further photoionization. This two-level description is employed to model neon cations strongly driven by x rays tuned to the 1s 2p-1 --> 1s-1 2p transition at 848 eV; the x rays induce Rabi oscillations which are so fast that they compete with Ne 1s-hole decay. We predict resonance fluorescence spectra for t…
We propose and theoretically investigate a model to realize cascaded optical nonlinearity with few atoms and photons in one-dimension (1D). The optical nonlinearity in our system is mediated by resonant interactions of photons with two-level emitters, such as atoms or quantum dots in a 1D photonic waveguide. Multi-photon transmission in the waveguide is nonreciprocal when the emitters have different transition energies. Our theory provides a clear physical understanding of the origin of nonreciprocity in the presence of cascaded nonlinearity. We show how various two-photon nonlinear effects in…
Near the band edge of photonic crystal waveguides, localized modes appear due to disorder. We demonstrate a new method to elucidate spatial profile of the localized modes in such systems using precise local tuning. Using deconvolution with the known thermal profile, the spatial profile of a localized mode with quality factor ($Q$) $>10^5$ is successfully reconstructed with a resolution of $2.5 \ μ$m.
A photodiode with 0.55$\pm$0.1 A/W responsivity at a wavelength of 1176.9 nm has been fabricated in a 45 nm microelectronics silicon-on-insulator foundry process. The resonant waveguide photodetector exploits carrier generation in silicon-germanium (SiGe) within a microring which is compatible with high-performance electronics. A 3 dB bandwidth of 5 GHz at -4 V bias is obtained with a dark current of less than 20 pA.
We report Gold/Silica biochips for low cost biosensor devices. Firstly, the study of biochemical interactions on silica by means of Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) is presented. Secondly, Gold/Silica biochips are employed to reduce the strong quenching that occurs when a fluorophore is close to the gold surface. Furthermore, the control of the Silica-like thickness allows optimizing the distance between the metallic surface and the fluorophore in order to enhance the fluorescent signal. These results represent the first steps towards highly sensitive, specific and low cost biosensors based, fo…
Blood analysis is an important diagnostic tool, as it provides a wealth of information about the patient health. Raman spectroscopy is a promising tool in blood analysis, but widespread clinical application is limited by its low signal strength, as well as complex and costly instrumentation. The growing field of waveguide-based Raman spectroscopy tries to solve these challenges by working towards fully integrated Raman sensors with increased interaction areas. In this work, we demonstrate on-chip resonance Raman measurements of hemoglobin, a crucial component of blood, at 532 nm excitation usi…
An x-ray pulse-shaping scheme is put forward for imprinting an optical frequency comb onto the radiation emitted on a driven x-ray transition, thus producing an x-ray frequency comb. A four-level system is used to describe the level structure of N ions driven by narrow-bandwidth x rays, an optical auxiliary laser, and an optical frequency comb. By including many-particle enhancement of the emitted resonance fluorescence, a spectrum is predicted consisting of equally spaced narrow lines which are centered on an x-ray transition energy and separated by the same tooth spacing as the driving optic…
We study a waveguide array with an embedded nonlinear saturable impurity. We solve the impurity problem in closed form and find the nonlinear localized modes. Next, we consider the scattering of a small-amplitude plane wave by a nonlinear impurity mode, and discover regions in parameter space where transmission is fully suppressed. We relate these findings with Fano resonances and propose this setup as a mean to control the transport of light across the array.
We show that anisotropic planar anti-guiding waveguide structures with two radiation channels towards the surrounding cladding materials can support unidirectional guided resonances (UGRs), where radiation is cancelled in one of the radiation channels and redirected into the other. Their formation is subtle as it requires breaking the so-called polar anisotropy-symmetry of the structures. Then, UGRs appear at specific wavelengths and light propagation directions, are robust, and are characterised by phase singularities in the channel in which radiation is cancelled. The mechanism we describe a…
