AI Article Synopsis
- Single fluorescent molecules in host crystals are effective probes for studying dynamics at the nanoscale, particularly due to their fine optical linewidth at low temperatures.
- However, these linewidths significantly increase when molecules are near surfaces, with no 0-0 zero-phonon line (ZPL) observed on surfaces until now.
- This study successfully detects the 0-0 ZPL of terrylene molecules on hexagonal boron-nitride surfaces, showing improved spectral stability in molecules on annealed flakes compared to non-annealed ones.
Article Abstract
Single fluorescent molecules embedded in the bulk of host crystals have proven to be sensitive probes of the dynamics in their nano environment, thanks to their narrow (about 30-50 MHz or 0.1-0.2 μeV) optical linewidth of the 0-0 zero-phonon line (0-0 ZPL) at cryogenic temperatures. However, the optical linewidths of the 0-0 ZPL have been found to increase dramatically as the single molecules are located closer to a surface or interface, while no 0-0 ZPL has been detected for single molecules on any surface. Here we study single terrylene molecules adsorbed on the surface of hexagonal boron-nitride (hBN) substrates. Our low-temperature results show that it is possible to observe the 0-0 ZPL of fluorescent molecules on a surface. We compare our results for molecules deposited on the surfaces of annealed and non-annealed hBN flakes and we see a marked improvement in the spectral stability of the emitters after annealing.
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Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10693553 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-42865-4 | DOI Listing |
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