Room temperature single-photon source:
Single-dye molecule fluorescence in liquid crystal host

Svetlana G. Lukishova, Ansgar W. Schmid, Andrew J. McNamara,
Robert W. Boyd, and Carlos R. Stroud, Jr.

IEEE J. Selected Topics Quant. Electron. 9, 1512 (2003).

We report on new approaches toward an implementation of an efficient, room temperature, deterministically polarized, single-photon source (SPS) on demand—a key hardware element for quantum information and quantum communication. Operation of a room temperature SPS is demonstrated via photon antibunching in the fluorescence from single terrylene-dye molecules embedded in a cholesteric liquid crystal host. Using oxygen-depleted liquid crystal hosts, dye-bleaching was avoided over the course of more than 1 h of continuous 532-nm excitation. Liquid crystal hosts (including liquid crystal oligomers/polymers) permit further increase of the efficiency of the source: 1) by aligning the dye molecules along a direction preferable for maximum excitation efficiency; 2) by tuning a one-dimensional (1-D) photonic-band-gap microcavity of planar-aligned cholesteric (chiral nematic) liquid crystal layer to the dye fluorescence band.

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