Nano Express
Single-photon Transistors Based on the Interaction of an Emitter and Surface Plasmons
National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures and Department of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China
Nanoscale Research Letters 2008, 3:361-364 doi:10.1007/s11671-008-9166-9
Published: 19 September 2008Abstract
A symmetrical approach is suggested (Chang DE et al. Nat Phys 3:807, 2007) to realize a single-photon transistor, where the presence (or absence) of a single incident photon in a ‘gate’ field is sufficient to allow (prevent) the propagation of a subsequent ‘signal’ photon along the nanowire, on condition that the ‘gate’ field is symmetrically incident from both sides of an emitter simultaneously. We present a scheme for single-photon transistors based on the strong emitter-surface-plasmon interaction. In this scheme, coherent absorption of an incoming ‘gate’ photon incident along a nanotip by an emitter located near the tip of the nanotip results in a state flip in the emitter, which controls the subsequent propagation of a ‘signal’ photon in a nanowire perpendicular to the axis of the nanotip.
