Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Theoretical foundations
- 3 Propagation and focusing of optical fields
- 4 Spatial resolution and position accuracy
- 5 Nanoscale optical microscopy
- 6 Near-field optical probes
- 7 Probe–sample distance control
- 8 Light emission and optical interactions in nanoscale environments
- 9 Quantum emitters
- 10 Dipole emission near planar interfaces
- 11 Photonic crystals and resonators
- 12 Surface plasmons
- 13 Forces in confined fields
- 14 Fluctuation-induced interactions
- 15 Theoretical methods in nano-optics
- Appendix A Semianalytical derivation of the atomic polarizability
- Appendix B Spontaneous emission in the weak coupling regime
- Appendix C Fields of a dipole near a layered substrate
- Appendix D Far-field Green's functions
- Index
9 - Quantum emitters
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Theoretical foundations
- 3 Propagation and focusing of optical fields
- 4 Spatial resolution and position accuracy
- 5 Nanoscale optical microscopy
- 6 Near-field optical probes
- 7 Probe–sample distance control
- 8 Light emission and optical interactions in nanoscale environments
- 9 Quantum emitters
- 10 Dipole emission near planar interfaces
- 11 Photonic crystals and resonators
- 12 Surface plasmons
- 13 Forces in confined fields
- 14 Fluctuation-induced interactions
- 15 Theoretical methods in nano-optics
- Appendix A Semianalytical derivation of the atomic polarizability
- Appendix B Spontaneous emission in the weak coupling regime
- Appendix C Fields of a dipole near a layered substrate
- Appendix D Far-field Green's functions
- Index
Summary
The interaction of light with nanometer-sized structures is at the core of nano-optics. It is obvious that as the particles become smaller and smaller the laws of quantum mechanics will become apparent in their interaction with light. In this limit, continuous scattering and absorption of light will be supplemented or replaced by resonant interactions if the photon energy hits the energy difference of discrete internal (electronic) energy levels. In atoms, molecules and nanoparticles, like semiconductor nanocrystals and other “quantum confined” systems, these resonances are found at optical frequencies. Due to the resonant character, the light–matter interaction can often be approximated by treating the quantum system as an effective two-level system, i.e. by considering only those two (electronic) levels whose difference in energy is close to the interacting photon energy ħω0.
In this chapter we consider single-quantum systems that are fixed in space, either by deposition to a surface or by being embedded into a solid matrix. The material to be covered should familiarize the reader with single-photon emitters and with concepts developed in the field of quantum optics. While various theoretical aspects related to the fields emitted by a quantum system have been discussed in Chapter 8, the current chapter focuses more on the nature of the quantum system itself. We adopt a rather practical perspective since more rigorous accounts can be found elsewhere (see e.g. [1–4]).
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- Principles of Nano-Optics , pp. 304 - 334Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006