Full control of spontaneous emission in confined Tamm plasmon structures

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the strong confinement of optical fields in Tamm plasmon structures, enabling control over quantum dot emission rates, including significant enhancement and inhibition effects, with potential applications in quantum optics.

Contribution

It introduces a method to confine optical fields in micron-sized metallic disks on mirrors, achieving zero-dimensional Tamm plasmon modes with strong quantum dot coupling.

Findings

Quantum dots show accelerated emission when resonant with the mode.

Inhibition of spontaneous emission by a factor of 40 for detuned dots.

Record optical inhibition achieved in Tamm plasmon structures.

Abstract

We demonstrate strong confinement of the optical field by depositing a micron sized metallic disk on a planar interferential mirror. Zero dimensional Tamm plasmon modes are evidenced both experimentally and theoretically, with a lateral confinement limited to the disk area and strong coupling to TE polarized fields. Single quantum dots deterministically coupled to these modes are shown to experience acceleration of their spontaneous emission when spectrally resonant with the mode. For quantum dots spectrally detuned from the confined Tamm Plasmon mode, an inhibition of spontaneous emission by a factor 40 is observed, a record value in the optical domain.