Enhanced and directional single-photon emission in hyperbolic metamaterials
- 5 March 2013
- journal article
- Published by Optica Publishing Group in Journal of the Optical Society of America B
- Vol. 30 (4), 766-775
- https://doi.org/10.1364/josab.30.000766
Abstract
We propose an approach to enhance and direct the spontaneous emission from isolated emitters embedded inside hyperbolic metamaterials (HMMs) into single-photon beams. The approach rests on collective plasmonic Bloch modes of HMMs, which propagate in highly directional beams called quantum resonance cones. We propose a pumping scheme using the transparency window of the HMM that occurs near the topological transition. Finally, we address the challenge of outcoupling these broadband resonance cones into vacuum using a dielectric bullseye grating. We give a detailed analysis of quenching and design the metamaterial to have a huge Purcell factor in a broad bandwidth in spite of the losses in the metal. Our work should help motivate experiments in the development of single-photon sources for broadband emitters such as nitrogen vacancy centers in diamond.Keywords
Funding Information
- Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
- Alberta Innovates Technology Futures (AITF)
- Alberta Nanobridge
- Canadian School of Energy and Environment
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