Scanning Single Quantum Emitter Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging: Quantitative Analysis of the Local Density of Photonic States

• Published in: Nano letters 2014-05, Vol.14 (5), p.2623-2627
• Main Authors: Schell, Andreas W, Engel, Philip, Werra, Julia F. M, Wolff, Christian, Busch, Kurt, Benson, Oliver
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Collective excitations (including excitons, polarons, plasmons and other charge-density excitations); Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Density; Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and low-dimensional structures; Exact sciences and technology; Fluorescence; Imaging; Low-dimensional structures (superlattices, quantum well structures, multilayers): structure, and nonelectronic properties; Materials science; Microscopy; Nanocrystalline materials; Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization; Nanostructure; Photonics; Physics; Simulation; Surface and interface electron states; Surfaces and interfaces; thin films and whiskers (structure and nonelectronic properties); Three dimensional
• ISSN: 1530-6984; 1530-6992
• DOI: 10.1021/nl500460c

Their intrinsic properties render single quantum systems as ideal tools for quantum enhanced sensing and microscopy. As an additional benefit, their size is typically on an atomic scale that enables sensing with very high spatial resolution. Here, we report on utilizing a single nitrogen vacancy center in nanodiamond for performing three-dimensional scanning-probe fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy. By measuring changes of the single emitter’s lifetime, information on the local density of optical states is acquired at the nanoscale. Three-dimensional ab initio discontinuous Galerkin time-domain simulations are used in order to verify the results and to obtain additional insights. This combination of experiment and simulations to gather quantitative information on the local density of optical states is of direct relevance for the understanding of fundamental quantum optical processes as well as for the engineering of novel photonic and plasmonic devices.