Strain tuning of single-molecule-based single photon sources

Abstract

Dibenzoterrylene (DBT) molecules embedded in an anthracene host crystal are promising sources of single photons. They have high photostability and can be readily included in photonic structures [1] . Furthermore, when cooled to cryogenic temperatures they are spectrally stable and display fully coherent, lifetime-limited emission in the zero-phonon line (ZPL) [2] , and have a large branching ratio for this decay compared to incoherent decay involving molecular vibrations [3] . Another key characteristic of DBT-based photon sources is the proximity of their emission wavelength compared to rubidium atoms [4] , which can be exploited for quantum technology applications. However, so far fine-tuning of the emission of DBT has mainly been achieved using Stark tuning with a static electric field.