Probing electric and magnetic vacuum fluctuations with quantum dots

Petru Tighineanu; Mads Lykke Andersen; Anders Søndberg Sørensen; Søren Stobbe; Peter Lodahl

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.043601

Probing electric and magnetic vacuum fluctuations with quantum dots

Petru Tighineanu, Mads Lykke Andersen, Anders Søndberg Sørensen, Søren Stobbe, Peter Lodahl

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15 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The electromagnetic-vacuum-field fluctuations are intimately linked to the process of spontaneous emission of light. Atomic emitters cannot probe electric- and magnetic-field fluctuations simultaneously because electric and magnetic transitions correspond to different selection rules. In this Letter we show that semiconductor quantum dots are fundamentally different and are capable of mediating electric-dipole, magnetic-dipole, and electric-quadrupole transitions on a single electronic resonance. As a consequence, quantum dots can probe electric and magnetic fields simultaneously and can thus be applied for sensing the electromagnetic environment of complex photonic nanostructures. Our study opens the prospect of interfacing quantum dots with optical metamaterials for tailoring the electric and magnetic light-matter interaction at the single-emitter level.

Original language	English
Article number	043601
Journal	Physical Review Letters
Volume	113
ISSN	0031-9007
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.043601
Publication status	Published - 25 Jul 2014

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10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.043601

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abstract = "The electromagnetic-vacuum-field fluctuations are intimately linked to the process of spontaneous emission of light. Atomic emitters cannot probe electric- and magnetic-field fluctuations simultaneously because electric and magnetic transitions correspond to different selection rules. In this Letter we show that semiconductor quantum dots are fundamentally different and are capable of mediating electric-dipole, magnetic-dipole, and electric-quadrupole transitions on a single electronic resonance. As a consequence, quantum dots can probe electric and magnetic fields simultaneously and can thus be applied for sensing the electromagnetic environment of complex photonic nanostructures. Our study opens the prospect of interfacing quantum dots with optical metamaterials for tailoring the electric and magnetic light-matter interaction at the single-emitter level.",

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AU - Tighineanu, Petru

AU - Andersen, Mads Lykke

AU - Sørensen, Anders Søndberg

AU - Stobbe, Søren

AU - Lodahl, Peter

PY - 2014/7/25

Y1 - 2014/7/25

N2 - The electromagnetic-vacuum-field fluctuations are intimately linked to the process of spontaneous emission of light. Atomic emitters cannot probe electric- and magnetic-field fluctuations simultaneously because electric and magnetic transitions correspond to different selection rules. In this Letter we show that semiconductor quantum dots are fundamentally different and are capable of mediating electric-dipole, magnetic-dipole, and electric-quadrupole transitions on a single electronic resonance. As a consequence, quantum dots can probe electric and magnetic fields simultaneously and can thus be applied for sensing the electromagnetic environment of complex photonic nanostructures. Our study opens the prospect of interfacing quantum dots with optical metamaterials for tailoring the electric and magnetic light-matter interaction at the single-emitter level.

AB - The electromagnetic-vacuum-field fluctuations are intimately linked to the process of spontaneous emission of light. Atomic emitters cannot probe electric- and magnetic-field fluctuations simultaneously because electric and magnetic transitions correspond to different selection rules. In this Letter we show that semiconductor quantum dots are fundamentally different and are capable of mediating electric-dipole, magnetic-dipole, and electric-quadrupole transitions on a single electronic resonance. As a consequence, quantum dots can probe electric and magnetic fields simultaneously and can thus be applied for sensing the electromagnetic environment of complex photonic nanostructures. Our study opens the prospect of interfacing quantum dots with optical metamaterials for tailoring the electric and magnetic light-matter interaction at the single-emitter level.

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VL - 113

JO - Physical Review Letters

JF - Physical Review Letters

M1 - 043601

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Probing electric and magnetic vacuum fluctuations with quantum dots

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