2014/04/04 by Petru Tighineanu, Mads Lykke Andersen, M. L. Andersen +4
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Condensed matter physics #Dipole #Electric field #Magnetic dipole #Magnetic field #Optics #Optoelectronics #Photonic Crystals and Applications #Physics #Plasmonic and Surface Plasmon Research #Quantum dot #Quantum mechanics #Quantum optics #Semiconductor Quantum Structures and Devices #cond-mat.mes-hall #physics.atom-ph #physics.optics #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.113.043601
6 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2014/04/04 · openalex publication_date 2014/07/25 · arxiv updated 2014/07/29 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
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.