Probing the Radiative Transition of Single Molecules with a Tunable Microresonator

Using a tunable optical microresonator with subwavelength spacing, we demonstrate controlled modulation of the radiative transition rate of a single molecule, which is measured by monitoring its fluorescence lifetime. Variation of the cavity length changes the local mode structure of the electromagn...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nano letters 2011-04, Vol.11 (4), p.1700-1703
Main Authors: Chizhik, Alexey I, Chizhik, Anna M, Khoptyar, Dmitry, Bär, Sebastian, Meixner, Alfred J, Enderlein, Jörg
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties
Equipment Design
Equipment Failure Analysis
Exact sciences and technology
Luminescent Measurements - instrumentation
Molecular Probe Techniques - instrumentation
Nanoscale materials: clusters, nanoparticles, nanotubes, and nanocrystals
Optical Devices
Physics
Structure of solids and liquids
crystallography
Transducers
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Summary:Using a tunable optical microresonator with subwavelength spacing, we demonstrate controlled modulation of the radiative transition rate of a single molecule, which is measured by monitoring its fluorescence lifetime. Variation of the cavity length changes the local mode structure of the electromagnetic field, which modifies the radiative coupling of an emitting molecule to that field. By comparing the experimental data with a theoretical model, we extract both the pure radiative transition rate as well as the quantum yield of individual molecules. We observe a broad scattering of quantum yield values from molecule to molecule, which reflects the strong variation of the local interaction of the observed molecules with their host environment.
ISSN:1530-6984
1530-6992
DOI:10.1021/nl200215v