arXiv · 2309.04416
Single-molecule time-resolved spectroscopy in a tunable STM nanocavity
Abstract
The spontaneous fluorescence rates of single-molecule emitters are typically on the order of nanoseconds. However coupling them with plasmonic nanostructures can substantially increase their fluorescence yields. The confinement between the tip and sample of a scanning tunneling microscope creates a tunable nanocavity, an ideal platform for exploring the yields and excitation decay rates of single-molecule emitters depending on the coupling strength to the nanocavity. With this setup we estimate the excitation lifetimes from the direct time-resolved measurements of the fluorescence decays of phthalocyanine adsorbates, decoupled from the metal substrates by ultrathin NaCl layers. It is found that nanosecond-range lifetimes prevail for the emitters away from the nanocavity, whereas for the tip approached to a molecule, we find a substantial effect of the nanocavity coupling, which reduces the lifetimes to a few picoseconds. An analysis is performed to investigate the crossover between the far-field and tip-enhanced photoluminescence regimes. This approach overcomes the drawbacks associated with the estimation of lifetimes for single molecules from their respective emission linewidths.
Explore related subjects
Keep this discovery
Jiří Doležal, Amandeep Sagwal, Rodrigo Cezar de Campos Ferreira, Martin Švec. 2023-09-08. Single-molecule time-resolved spectroscopy in a tunable STM nanocavity. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c04314
Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.