Continuous and reversible electrical-tuning of fluorescent decay rate via Fano resonance
Ramazan Şahin, PhD · · 1 min read · Updated
Sliding a narrow transparency window across a molecule's emission line with a voltage lets its decay rates be tuned continuously.
A plasmonic nanoparticle normally speeds up both the radiative and the non-radiative decay of a fluorescent molecule close to it. This paper proposes a way to turn that effect up and down electrically. A second quantum object is placed in the particle's hotspot; at its own transition frequency it suppresses the plasmon and opens a narrow Fano transparency in the local density of optical states (LDOS).
When the molecule emits inside this window, the plasmonic boost to both decay channels largely disappears. Because the helper's transition frequency can be shifted with a voltage, the window can be slid back and forth across the emission line, giving continuous and reversible control. Full three-dimensional Maxwell simulations reported in the paper indicate that each channel can be tuned by as much as a factor of a hundred. The authors see possible uses in single-photon sources, super-resolution microscopy, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy and quantum devices that can be programmed electrically.
This summary is based on the paper's published abstract; the author list, journal and DOI are shown in the citation box.