Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 11, 2026
07:39
Determination of the Excitation and Coupling Rates Between Light Emitters and Surface Plasmon Polaritons
Published on: July 21, 2018
Efficient coupling of single photons to single plasmons.
M Celebrano1, R Lettow, P Kukura
1Laboratory of Physical Chemistry and optETH, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
Optics Express
|July 1, 2010
Summary
Researchers achieved strong coupling between single photons from molecules and silver nanoparticles, enabling efficient light-to-plasmon conversion. This breakthrough facilitates advanced nano-spectroscopy and controlled single plasmon generation.
Area of Science:
- Quantum optics
- Plasmonics
- Nanophotonics
Background:
- Single photon sources are crucial for quantum technologies.
- Coupling photons to nanoparticles enhances light-matter interactions.
- Efficient conversion of photons to plasmons is a key challenge.
Purpose of the Study:
- To demonstrate strong coupling between single photons and individual nanoparticles.
- To achieve efficient conversion of photons to plasmon-polaritons.
- To explore applications in nano-spectroscopy, microscopy, and controlled particle generation.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing single molecules as single photon emitters.
- Employing silver nanoparticles for plasmon generation.
- Imaging techniques in transmission and reflection modes.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated strong coupling of single photons to individual nanoparticles under cryogenic and ambient conditions.
- Achieved over 55% efficiency in converting incident photons to plasmon-polaritons in silver nanoparticles.
- Obtained high-resolution images in both transmission and reflection.
Conclusions:
- The demonstrated strong coupling and efficient photon-to-plasmon conversion open new avenues for nanoscale optical investigations.
- This work enables sub-shot noise spectroscopy and microscopy of nano-objects.
- It also paves the way for triggered generation of single plasmons and electrons.
