Subnanosecond spectral diffusion measurement using photon correlation

Gregory Sallen (1) , Adrien Tribu (2) , Thomas Aichele (1) , Régis André (1) , Lucien Besombes (1) , Catherine Bougerol (1) , Maxime Richard (1) , Serge Tatarenko (1) , Kuntheak Kheng (2) , Jean-Philippe Poizat (1)

1 NEEL - NPSC - Nanophysique et Semiconducteurs
2 SP2M - UMR 9002 - Service de Physique des Matériaux et Microstructures

Spectral diffusion is a result of random spectral jumps of a narrow line as a result of a fluctuating environment. It is an important issue in spectroscopy, because the observed spectral broadening prevents access to the intrinsic line properties. However, its characteristic parameters provide local information on the environment of a light emitter embedded in a solid matrix, or moving within a fluid, leading to numerous applications in physics and biology. We present a new experimental technique for measuring spectral diffusion based on photon correlations within a spectral line. Autocorrelation on half of the line and cross-correlation between the two halves give a quantitative value of the spectral diffusion time, with a resolution only limited by the correlation set-up. We have measured spectral diffusion of the photoluminescence of a single light emitter with a time resolution of 90 ps, exceeding by four orders of magnitude the best resolution reported to date.

Mots clés: semiconductor; correlation; quantum dot; spectral diffusion

Domaines: Optique [physics.optics]; Systèmes mésoscopiques et effet Hall quantique [cond-mat.mes-hall]

Gregory Sallen, Adrien Tribu, Thomas Aichele, Régis André, Lucien Besombes, et al.. Subnanosecond spectral diffusion measurement using photon correlation. Nature Photonics, 2010, 4, pp.696. ⟨10.1038/nphoton.2010.174⟩. ⟨hal-00709231⟩