Compact and controllable STRONGly-coupled NANOsources of light – STRONG-NANO

Strong light-matter coupling is a new tool for molecular, photonic and material engineering and plays a key role in several fields of physics and technology such as: lazing processes, non-linear optics, light emission, and exciton transport. A topical configuration is based on a hybridizing between semiconducting quantum dots and metal nanoparticles supporting localized surface plasmons. Despite the numerous reported demonstrations of such coupled nanosystems, there are still 3 crucial requirements to be satisfied: i) precise spatial position of quantum emitters at the plasmonic hot spots of light intensity, ii) excitonic emitters with strong oscillation strength, iii) controllable coupled nanosystem, including systems at the single particle level, allowing for the assessment of the efficiency of the coupled quantum system. STRONG-NANO aims at addressing the above challenges. We will be taking a new step forward by developing strongly coupled polarization-sensitive (and thus remotely controllable) nanosources at the single particle level, including single photon emitters, and integrating them into functional photonic circuits. The project will benefit from (i) a successfull developpement of plasmon-based photopolymerization technique that makes possible the control of the position of single quantum emitter at the local plasmonic excitation field (see Nat.Com 11, 3914) and (ii) our strong inorganic exciton-plasmon coupling with quasi-2D colloidal quantum wells (Nanoplatelets, see Matter 2, 1550). STRONG-NANO is envisioned to run for 4 years and the scientific program that was set up to achieve the objectives will be divided into five workpackages (WP): WP1 - Nanoplatelets-containing photopolymerizable formulation, WP2-Nanoplasmonics, WP3-Nanoplatelets-Nanoplasmonics strong coupling, WP4 – Single-photon blockade with strongly coupled single Nanoplatelet-Nanoplasmonics system, WP5- Integration of the Nanoplatelets-Nanoplasmonics system to integrated optics.