Hybrid plasmonic waveguide coupling of photons from a single molecule
Samuele Grandi, Michael P. Nielsen, Javier Cambiasso, Sebastien Boissier, Kyle D. Major, Christopher Reardon, Thomas F. Krauss, Rupert F. Oulton, E. A. Hinds, Alex S. Clark
We demonstrate the emission of photons from a single molecule into a hybrid gap plasmon waveguide (HGPW). Crystals of anthracene, doped with dibenzoterrylene (DBT), are grown on top of the waveguides. We investigate a single DBT molecule coupled to the plasmonic region of one of the guides, and determine its in-plane orientation, excited state lifetime and saturation intensity. The molecule emits light into the guide, which is remotely out-coupled by a grating. The second-order auto-correlation and cross-correlation functions show that the emitter is a single molecule and that the light emerging from the grating comes from that molecule. The coupling efficiency is found to be $β_{WG}=11.6(1.5)\%$. This type of structure is promising for building new functionality into quantum-photonic circuits, where localised regions of strong emitter-guide coupling can be interconnected by low-loss dielectric guides.
Plasmonic, as a rapidly growing research field, provides new pathways to guide and modulate highly confined light in the microwave to the optical range of frequencies. We demonstrate a plasmonic slot waveguide, at the nanometer scale, based on high transition temperature superconductor BSCCO, to facilitates the manifestation of the chip-scale millimeter waves to terahertz integrated circuitry operating at cryogenic temperatures. We investigate the effect of geometrical parameters on the modal characteristics of the BSCCO plasmonic slot waveguide between 100 GHz and 500 GHz. In addition, we inv…
Photonic quantum technologies have been extensively studied in quantum information science, owing to the high-speed transmission and outstanding low-noise properties of photons. However, applications based on photonic entanglement are restricted due to the diffraction limit. In this work, we demonstrate for the first time the maintaining of quantum polarization entanglement in a nanoscale hybrid plasmonic waveguide composed of a fiber taper and a silver nanowire. The transmitted state throughout the waveguide has a fidelity of 0.932 with the maximally polarization entangled state Φ+. Furthermo…
We investigate qubit-qubit entanglement mediated by plasmons supported by one-dimensional waveguides. We explore both the situation of spontaneous formation of entanglement from an unentangled state and the emergence of driven steady-state entanglement under continuous pumping. In both cases, we show that large values for the concurrence are attainable for qubit-qubit distances larger than the operating wavelength by using plasmonic waveguides that are currently available.
The entanglement and resonance energy transfer between two-level quantum emitters are typically limited to sub-wavelength distances due to the inherently short-range nature of the dipole-dipole interactions. Moreover, the entanglement of quantum systems is hard to preserve for a long time period due to decoherence and dephasing mainly caused by radiative and nonradiative losses. In this work, we outperform the aforementioned limitations by presenting efficient long-range inter-emitter entanglement and large enhancement of resonance energy transfer between two optical qubits mediated by epsilon…
Multiqubit entanglement is extremely important to perform truly secure quantum optical communication and computing operations. However, the efficient generation of long-range entanglement over extended time periods between multiple qubits randomly distributed in a photonic system remains an outstanding challenge. This constraint is mainly due to the detrimental effects of decoherence and dephasing. To alleviate this issue, we present engineered epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) nanostructures that can maximize the coherence of light-matter interactions at room temperature. We investigate a practical ENZ…
We present a scheme to generate continuous variable bipartite entanglement between two optical modes in a hybrid optical-microwave-plasmonic graphene waveguide system. In this scheme, we exploit the interaction of two light fields coupled to the same microwave mode via Plasmonic Graphene Waveguide to generate two-mode squeezing, which can be used for continuous-variable quantum teleportation of the light signals over large distances. Furthermore, we study the teleportation fidelity of an unknown coherent state. The teleportation protocol is robust against the thermal noise associated with the …
We experimentally investigate the decoherence of single surface plasmon polaritons in metal stripe waveguides. In our study we use a Mach-Zehnder configuration previously considered for measuring decoherence in atomic, electronic and photonic systems. By placing waveguides of different length in one arm we are able to measure the amplitude damping time T_1 = 1.90 +/- 0.01 x 10^-14 s, pure phase damping time T_2^* = 11.19 +/- 4.89 x 10^-14 s and total phase damping time T_2 = 2.83 +/- 0.32 x 10^-14 s. We find that decoherence is mainly due to amplitude damping and thus loss arising from inelast…
One-dimensional structures of non-Hermitian plasmonic metallic nanospheres are studied in this paper. For a single sphere, solving Maxwell's equations results in quasi-stationary eigenmodes with complex quantized frequencies. Coupled mode theory is employed in order to study more complex structures. The similarity between the coupled mode equations and the effective non-Hermitian Hamiltonians governing open quantum systems allows us to translate a series of collective phenomenon emerging in condensed matter and nuclear physics to the system of plasmonic spheres. A nontrivial physics emerges as…
Entanglement between two qubits (two level atoms) mediated by surface plasmons in three-dimensional plasmonic waveguides is studied using a quantum master equation formalism. Two types of waveguides, a nanowire and a V-shaped channel cut in a flat metal plane, are considered. The Green functions for the waveguides, which rigorously describes the dissipative qubit environment, are calculated numerically using a direct finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) solution of Maxwell's equations. Finite-length effects are shown to play a crucial role in enhancing entanglement, and resonant-length plasmon…
We theoretically investigate the spontaneous emission of a point--like dipolar emitter located near a two--dimensional (2D) plasmonic waveguide of arbitrary form. We invoke an explicite link with the density of modes of the waveguide describing the electromagnetic channels into which the emitter can couple. We obtain a closed form expression for the coupling to propagative plasmon, extending thus the Purcell factor to plasmonic configurations. Radiative and non-radiative contributions to the spontaneous emission are also discussed in details.
We report on quantum, classical, and total correlations in a set of distant quantum emitters coupled via their interaction with the plasmon modes of a one-dimensional waveguide driven by an external laser field. The coupling of the emitters with the plasmonic modes and its influence on the collective decay rate suggest that entanglement does not play a significant role in the qubit dynamics. Rather, discord is the quantity that matters and should be harnessed as a resource.
We present a comprehensive review of formation and control of single photon sources from two dimensional materials. We critically analyze the creation and control of these quantum emitters both at room and at low temperature. Deterministic formation and position controlled methodology is elaborated and pictorially explained. We enlist major single photon sources from various two dimensional and non two dimensional resources. Plasmonic waveguides and the interfacing of single photon sources with them are critically analyzed and reviewed. Furthermore, we envisize the geometry of plasmonic wavegu…
Monolithic integration of quantum emitters in nanoscale plasmonic circuitry requires low-loss plasmonic configurations capable of confining light well below the diffraction limit. We demonstrate on-chip remote excitation of nanodiamond-embedded single quantum emitters by plasmonic modes of dielectric ridges atop colloidal silver crystals. The nanodiamonds are produced to incorporate single germanium-vacancy (GeV) centers, providing bright, spectrally narrow and stable single-photon sources suitable for highly integrated circuits. Using electron-beam lithography with hydrogen silsesquioxane (HS…
We report on the observation of a topologically protected edge state at the interface between two topologically distinct domains of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model, which we implement in arrays of evanescently coupled dielectric-loaded surface plasmon polariton waveguides. Direct evidence of the topological character of the edge state is obtained through several independent experiments: Its spatial localization at the interface as well as the restriction to one sublattice is confirmed by real-space leakage radiation microscopy. The corresponding momentum-resolved spectrum obtained by Fourier im…
Quantum-statistical effects occur during the propagation of electromagnetic (EM) waves inside the dielectric media or metamaterials, which include a large class of nanophotonic and plasmonic waveguides with dissipation and noise. Exploiting the formal analogy between the Schrodinger equation and the Maxwell equations for dielectric linear media, we rigorously derive the effective Hamiltonian operator which describes such propagation. This operator turns out to be essentially non-Hermitian in general, and pseudo-Hermitian in some special cases. Using the density operator approach for general no…
We propose a novel approach for microwave and optical fields entanglement using an electrical capacitor loaded with graphene plasmonic waveguide. In the proposed scheme, a quantum microwave signal of frequency f_m drives the electrical capacitor, while an intensive optical field (optical pump) of frequency f_1 is launched to the graphene waveguide as surface plasmon polariton (i.e., SPP) mode. The two fields interact by the means of electrically modulating the graphene optical conductivity. It then follows that an upper and lower SPP sideband modes (of f_2 = f_1 + f_m and f_3 = f_1 -f_m freque…
We present a study of light-induced forces between two coupled plasmonic nano-particles above various slab geometries including a metallic half-space and a 280-nm thick negative index material (NIM) slab waveguide. We investigate optical forces by non-perturbatively calculating the scattered electric field via a Green function technique which includes the particle interactions to all orders. For excitation frequencies near the surface plasmon polariton and slow-light waveguide modes of the metal and NIM, respectively, we find rich light-induced forces and significant dynamical back-action effe…
Usually, the liner waveguides with single quantum emitters are utilized as routers to construct the quantum network in quantum information processings. Here, we investigate the influence of the nonlinear dispersion on quantum routing of single surface plasmons, between two metal nanowires with a pair of quantum dots. By using a full quantum theory in real space, we obtain the routing probabilities of a single surface plasmon into the four outports of two plasmonic waveguides scattered by a pair of quantum dots. It is shown that, by properly designing the inter-dot distance and the dot-plasmon …
Coupling single photon emitters to surface plasmons provides a versatile ground for on chip quantum photonics. However, achieving good coupling efficiency requires precise alignment of both the position and dipole orientation of the emitter relative to the plasmonic mode. We demonstrate coupling of single emitters in the 2-D semiconductor, WSe2 self-aligned with propagating surface plasmon polaritons in silver-air-silver, metal-insulator-metal waveguides. The waveguide produces strain induced defects in the monolayer which are close to the surface plasmon mode with favorable dipole orientation…
