A plasmonic nanoantenna based triggered single photon source

TL;DR

This paper presents a hybrid plasmonic nanoantenna device that enables triggered single photon generation, advancing quantum-optical circuit components by analyzing emitter dynamics and identifying optimal parameters.

Contribution

It introduces a novel hybrid plasmonic nanoantenna system for triggered single photon emission and provides a simplified analytical model for its quantum optical behavior.

Findings

Successful design of a silver nanorod nanoantenna for single photon triggering

Simplified adiabatic elimination approach for emitter dynamics analysis

Identification of parameter regimes for optimal photon emission

Abstract

Highly integrated single photon sources are key components in future quantum-optical circuits. Whereas the probabilistic generation of single photons can routinely be done by now, their triggered generation is a much greater challenge. Here, we describe the triggered generation of single photons in a hybrid plasmonic device. It consists of a lambda-type quantum emitter coupled to a multimode optical nanoantenna. For moderate interaction strengths between the subsystems, the description of the quantum optical evolution can be simplified by an adiabatic elimination of the electromagnetic fields of the nanoantenna modes. This leads to an insightful analysis of the emitter's dynamics, entails the opportunity to understand the physics of the device, and to identify parameter regimes for a desired operation. Even though the approach presented in this work is general, we consider a simple exemplary design of a plasmonic nanoantenna, made of two silver nanorods, suitable for triggered generation of single photons.