2008/02/08 by Philipp Kukura, P. Kukura, Kukura, P. +9 · 1 citation
Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Gold and Silver Nanoparticles Synthesis and Applications #Near-Field Optical Microscopy #Other Condensed Matter (cond-mat.other) #Quantum Dots Synthesis And Properties #cond-mat.other
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0802.1206
arxiv created 2008/02/08 · openalex publication_date 2008/02/08 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Room temperature detection of single quantum emitters has had a broad impact in fields ranging from biophysics to material science, photophysics, or even quantum optics. These experiments have exclusively relied on the efficient detection of fluorescence. An attractive alternative would be to employ direct absorption, or more correctly expressed "extinction" measurements. Indeed, small nanoparticles have been successfully detected using this scheme in reflection and transmission. Coherent extinction detection of single emitters has also been reported at cryogenic temperatures, but their room temperature implementation has remained a great laboratory challenge owing to the expected weak signal-to-noise ratio. Here we report the first extinction study of a single quantum emitter at ambient condition. We obtain a direct measure for the extinction cross section of a single semiconductor nanocrystal both during and in the absence of fluorescence, for example in the photobleached state or during blinking off-times. Our measurements pave the way for the detection and absorption spectroscopy of single molecules or clusters of atoms even in the quenched state.