Thermometric Analysis of Nanoaperture-Trapped Erbium-Containing Nanocrystals.

Temperature changes in plasmonic traps can affect biomolecules and quantum emitters; therefore, several works have sought out the capability of measuring the local temperature. Those works used ionic nanopore currents, fluorescence emission variations, and fluorescence-based diffusion tracking to measure the temperature dependence of shaped nanoapertures in metal films. Here, we make use of a stable erbium-containing NaYF nanocrystal that gives local temperature dependence while trapped in the nanoaperture hot spot.

X-ray-Sensitive Doped CaF-Based MRI Contrast Agents for Local Radiation Dose Measurement.

Ionizing radiation has become widely used in medicine, with application in diagnostic techniques, such as computed tomography (CT) and radiation therapy (RT), where X-rays are used to diagnose and treat tumors. The X-rays used in CT and, in particular, in RT can have harmful side effects; hence, an accurate determination of the delivered radiation dose is of utmost importance to minimize any damage to healthy tissues. For this, medical specialists mostly rely on theoretical predictions of the delivered dose or external measurements of the dose.

Isolating and enhancing single-photon emitters for 1550 nm quantum light sources using double nanohole optical tweezers.

Single-photon sources are required for quantum technologies and can be created from individual atoms and atom-like defects. Erbium ions produce single photons at low-loss fiber optic wavelengths, but they have low emission rates, making them challenging to isolate reliably. Here, we tune the size of gold double nanoholes (DNHs) to enhance the emission of single erbium emitters, achieving 50× enhancement over rectangular apertures previously demonstrated.

Photon-counting computed tomography of lanthanide contrast agents with a high-flux 330-m-pitch cadmium zinc telluride detector in a table-top system.

We present photon-counting computed tomography (PCCT) imaging of contrast agent triplets similar in atomic number ( ) achieved with a high-flux cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) detector. The table-top PCCT imaging system included a -pitch CZT detector of size capable of using six energy bins. Four 3D-printed 3-cm-diameter phantoms each contained seven 6-mm-diameter vials with water and low and high concentration solutions of various contrast agents.

Isolating Nanocrystals with an Individual Erbium Emitter: A Route to a Stable Single-Photon Source at 1550 nm Wavelength.

Single-photon emitters based on individual atoms or individual atomic-like defects are highly sought-after components for future quantum technologies. A key challenge in this field is how to isolate just one such emitter; the best approaches still have an active emitter yield of only 50% so that deterministic integration of single active emitters is not yet possible. Here, we demonstrate the ability to isolate individual erbium emitters embedded in 20 nm nanocrystals of NaYF using plasmonic aperture optical tweezers.