99% efficiency in collecting photons from a single emitter

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Quantum Technologies
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Previous work demonstrated a planar dielectric antenna with 96% photon collection efficiency for molecules.
• The prior antenna design required the molecule's transition dipole moment to be perpendicular to the antenna plane.

Purpose of the Study:

• To theoretically extend dielectric antenna designs for enhanced photon collection efficiency.
• To achieve collection efficiencies exceeding 99% for emitters with arbitrarily oriented dipole moments.

Main Methods:

• Theoretical modeling of planar dielectric antennas.
• Analysis of emitter-antenna interactions for arbitrary dipole orientations.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated theoretical collection efficiencies beyond 99%.
• Identified antenna parameters for optimizing performance with arbitrarily oriented emitters.

Conclusions:

• The enhanced antenna design significantly improves photon collection efficiency.
• Enables applications in quantum optics, quantum metrology, nanoanalytics, and biophysics, including ultrabright single-photon sources and sensitive single-molecule detection.