Coupling (piping)

Scattering

Metallurgy

Materials science

Optoelectronics

Physics

Resonance (particle physics)

Quantum dot

Optics

Molecular physics

Photoluminescence

Atomic physics

Plasmon

Fano resonance

Light scattering

Condensed matter physics

Electromagnetically induced transparency

Nature Communications

Coherent coupling between plasmons and transition dipole moments in emitters can lead to two distinct spectral effects: vacuum Rabi splitting at strong coupling strengths, and induced transparency (also known as Fano interference) at intermediate coupling strengths. Achieving either strong or intermediate coupling between a single emitter and a localized plasmon resonance has the potential to enable single-photon nonlinearities and other extreme light-matter interactions, at room temperature and on the nanometer scale. Both effects produce two peaks in the spectrum of scattering from the plasmon resonance, and can thus be confused if scattering measurements alone are performed. Here we report measurements of scattering and photoluminescence from individual coupled plasmon-emitter systems that consist of a single colloidal quantum dot in the gap between a gold nanoparticle and a silver film. The measurements unambiguously demonstrate weak coupling (the Purcell effect), intermediate coupling (Fano interference), and strong coupling (Rabi splitting) at room temperature.

Strong coupling and induced transparency at room temperature with single quantum dots and gap plasmons