Self-Assembled Nanocrystals of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Show Photostable Single-Photon Emission

Year: 2018

Authors: Pazzagli S., Lombardi P., Martella D., Colautti M., Tiribilli B., Cataliotti F.S., Toninelli C.

Autors Affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica ed Astronomia, Università di Firenze, Via Sansone 1, I-50019 Sesto F.no, Firenze, Italy; CNR-INO, Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Via Carrara 1, 50019 Sesto F.no, Firenze, Italy; LENS and Università di Firenze, Via Carrara 1, 50019 Sesto F.no, Firenze, Italy; CNR-ISC Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi, Via Madonna del Piano 10, I-50019 Sesto F.no, Firenze, Italy; QSTAR, Largo Fermi 2, I-50125 Firenze, Italy

Abstract: Quantum technologies could largely benefit from the control of quantum emitters in sub-micrometric size crystals. These are naturally prone to integration in hybrid devices, including heterostructures and complex photonic devices. Currently available quantum emitters in nanocrystals suffer from spectral instability, preventing their use as singlephoton
sources for most quantum optics operations. In this work we report on the performances of single-photon emission from organic nanocrystals (average size of hundreds of nm), made of anthracene (Ac) and doped with dibenzoterrylene (DBT) molecules. The source has hours-long photostability with respect to frequency and intensity, both at room and at cryogenic temperature. When cooled to 3 K, the 00-zero phonon line shows linewidth values (50 MHz) close to the lifetime limit. Such optical properties in a nanocrystalline environment recommend the proposed organic nanocrystals as single-photon sources for integrated photonic quantum technologies.

Journal/Review: ACS NANO

Volume: 12 (5)      Pages from: 4295  to: 4303

More Information: The authors would like to thank S. Ciattini and L. Chelazzi (GRIST) for helping with XRD measurements, M. Mamusa for dynamic light scattering experiments, F. Intonti for the microinfiltration setup, D. S. Wiersma for access to clean room facilities, M. Bellini and C. Corsi for Ti:sapphire operation, and K. G. Schadler and F. H. L. Koppens for helpful feedback on the NCs´ properties and useful discussions about integration in hybrid devices. This work benefited from the COST Action MP1403 (Nanoscale Quantum Optics). The authors acknowledge financial support from the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze (GRANCASSA), MIUR program Q-Sec Ground Space Communications, and the EraNET Cofund Initiatives QuantERA under the European Union´s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant agreement no. 731473).
KeyWords: nanocrystals, single-photon sources, quantum emitters, single-molecule spectroscopy, organic molecules
DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.7b08810

Citations: 43
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