Corner Reflector Plasmonic Nanoantennas for Enhanced Single-Photon Emission

TL;DR

This paper presents a hybrid plasmonic nanoantenna with a corner reflector that enhances both the emission rate and directivity of single-photon sources, using numerical simulations to optimize design.

Contribution

It introduces a novel hybrid structure combining a noble metal nanoparticle with a corner reflector to simultaneously improve emission rate and directivity.

Findings

Corner reflector significantly boosts emission directivity.

Design enhances emission rate by coupling to plasmonic resonances.

Numerical simulations validate the effectiveness of the hybrid nanoantenna.

Abstract

The emission rate of atom-like photon sources can be significantly improved by coupling them to plasmonic resonant nanostructures. These arrangements function as nanoantennas, serving the dual purpose of enhancing light--matter interactions and decoupling the emitted photons. However, there is a contradiction between the requirements for these two tasks. A small resonator volume is necessary for maximizing interaction efficiency, while a large antenna mode volume is essential to achieve high emission directivity. In this work, we analyze a hybrid structure composed of a noble metal plasmonic resonant nanoparticle coupled to the atom-like emitter, which is designed to enhance the emission rate, alongside a corner reflector aimed at optimizing the angular distribution of the emitted photons. A comprehensive numerical study of silver and gold corner reflector nanoantennas, employing the finite difference time domain method, is presented. The results demonstrate that a well-designed corner reflector can significantly enhance photon emission directivity while also substantially boosting the emission rate.