Chip-Based All-Optical Control of Single Molecules Coherently Coupled to a Nanoguide

Nanoscopic sources of photons, switches, and memories are in high demand as building blocks for quantum optical networks. Equally important are solutions for efficient “wiring” of these elements. An attractive approach to address these issues is to couple solid-state quantum emitters to a one-dimensional subwavelength waveguide (nanoguide) that acts as an optical wire or bus.

We developed a chip-based light-matter interface by coupling single organic dye molecules to dielectric nanoguides. Their small effective mode area gives rise to substantial single-emitter coupling efficiencies with expected values up to 35%. Transmission spectra of our device at superfluid helium temperatures revealed the coherent interaction of various single molecules with the guided mode. We showed that the inherent nonlinearity of single molecules is sufficient to switch and even coherently amplify a weak laser beam in an all-optical  fashion. Our presented architecture can be readily extended to more complex geometries and paves the way for the realization of quantum integrated photonic circuits.

Chip-Based All-Optical Control of Single Molecules Coherently Coupled to a Nanoguide
P. Türschmann, N. Rotenberg, J. Renger, I. Harder, O. Lohse, T. Utikal,
S. Götzinger, and V. Sandoghdar

Nano Lett. 7 (8), 4941–4945 (2017).