Controlling single-photon emission with ultrathin transdimensional plasmonic films

The properties of a two-level quantum dipole (DE) emitter near an ultrathin transdimensional (TD) plasmonic film are studied theoretically [1]. The model system studied mimics a solid-state single-photon source device. The spontaneous and stimulated emission intensity profiles are computed as functions of the excitation frequency and film thickness, followed by the analysis of the second-order photon correlations to explore the photon antibunching effect. It is shown that ultrathin TD films can greatly improve photon antibunching with thickness reduction, which allows one to control the quantum properties of light and make them more pronounced. The theory can be tested in experiments similar to those reported recently for epitaxial TiN films with thicknesses below 10 nm grown on MgO substrates and covered with an AlScN passivation layer [2], with nanodimond NV-centers as DEs deposited on the varied-thickness passivation layer. Knowledge of these properties is advantageous for solid-state single-photon source device engineering and in general for the development of the new integrated quantum photonics material platform based on the ultrathin TD plasmonic films. – [1] I.V.Bondarev, arXiv:2207.07768 (to appear in Annalen der Physik); [2] D.Shah, et al., Nano Lett. 22, 4622 (2022).