Subnanosecond spectral diffusion measurement using photon correlation

Abstract

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.

References in corpus (2)

• Photon-correlation Fourier spectroscopy
• Defect-free ZnSe nanowire and nano-needle nanostructures

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Theory of frequency-filtered and time-resolved N-photon correlations
• Ultrafast spectral diffusion measurement on nitrogen vacancy centers in nanodiamonds using correlation interferometry
• Photophysics of single nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond nanocrystals
• Optimization of photon correlations by frequency filtering
• Extraction of the homogeneous linewidth of a fast spectrally diffusing line
• Electronic transitions of single silicon vacancy centers in the near-infrared spectral region