Electrically-driven next generation of plasmonic nanosource of light

This project aims at the realization of an electrically driven nanosource of light with enhanced emission performance (efficiency, coherence, photon statistics) compared to the state of the art.

Such a nanosource will consist of semiconductor nanocrystals (quantum dots) accurately positioned inside the nanogap of an optical bowtie nanoantenna.

New emerging plasmonic materials will be used to fabricate the nanoantenna, which allow higher compatibility with silicon-based technologies.

The emission of light will be activated through the local, electrical excitation of the plasmonic modes of the nanoantenna by inelastic electron tunneling from the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM).

Thus, an extensive optical and electro-optical characterization of the nanosource will be carried out, in order to understand and control all the elementary processes on which the performance of the device depends.

In this way, we ambition to design a class of optical nanocomponents allowing for the integration of quantum dots with nanoelectronics.

Our project will be realized thanks to the use of a clean room with state-of-the-art equipment and a dedicated STM coupled to an optical microscope.

The project will be carried out mainly within the Institute of Molecular Sciences of Orsay, which has a world-renowned know-how in electrical excitation by STM tip.

This project is also in line with the Marie Curie fellowship programs by allowing the training of a researcher in a rapidly growing field offering significant recruitment prospects. The scientific results will also be disseminated to various target audiences.