title: On-chip single plasmon detection.
abstract: Surface plasmon polaritons (plasmons) have the potential to interface electronic and optical devices. They could prove extremely useful for integrated quantum information processing. Here we demonstrate on-chip electrical detection of single plasmons propagating along gold waveguides. The plasmons are excited using the single-photon emission of an optically emitting quantum dot. After propagating for several micrometers, the plasmons are coupled to a superconducting detector in the near-field. Correlation measurements prove that single plasmons are being detected.
authors.affiliation: Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, P.O. Box 5046, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands. r.w.heeres@tudelft.nl
authors.forename: Reinier W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Heeres
authors.forename: Sander N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Dorenbos
authors.forename: Benny
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Koene
authors.forename: Glenn S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Solomon
authors.forename: Leo P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Kouwenhoven
authors.forename: Valery
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Zwiller
mesh_terms: D004581:Electronics; D004867:Equipment Design; D008422:Materials Testing; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning / Q000379:methods; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D045663:Quantum Dots; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D013696:Temperature