Archive | 2021
Plasmon-enhanced single-photon sources for ultrafast quantum photonics
Abstract
Nearly all existing applications of quantum photonics require strings of single indistinguishable photons produced at high rates. Plasmonic nanostructures allow a targeted and strong enhancement of light-matter interaction in a broad wavelength range, boosting single-photon emission rates from solid-state quantum defects beyond both the rate of dipole dephasing and that of plasmon absorption in metals. We establish simple and intuitive fundamental enhancement limits for plasmonic systems coupled to quantum emitters and present practical methods for achieving these advantageous regimes. We also discuss methods for the on-chip integration of such single-photon sources and related opportunities for the readout of solid-state spins.