title: Single photon counting from individual nanocrystals in the infrared.
abstract: Experimental restrictions imposed on the collection and detection of shortwave-infrared photons (SWIR) have impeded single molecule work on a large class of materials whose optical activity lies in the SWIR. Here we report the successful observation of room-temperature single nanocrystal photoluminescence at SWIR wavelengths using a highly efficient multielement superconducting nanowire single photon detector. We confirm that the photoluminescence from single lead sulfide nanocrystals is strongly antibunched, demonstrating the feasibility of performing sophisticated photon correlation experiments on individual weak SWIR emitters, and, more broadly, paving the way for sensitive measurements of spectral observables on infrared quantum systems that are incompatible with current detection techniques.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States.
authors.forename: Raoul E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Correa
authors.forename: Eric A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Dauler
authors.forename: Gautham
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Nair
authors.forename: Si H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Danna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rosenberg
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Kerman
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Molnar
authors.forename: Xiaolong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Marsili
authors.forename: Vikas
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Anant
authors.forename: Karl K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Berggren
authors.forename: Moungi G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Bawendi
mesh_terms: D007259:Infrared Rays; D008422:Materials Testing; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D010316:Particle Size; D010783:Photometry / Q000379:methods*; D017785:Photons; D013055:Spectrophotometry, Infrared / Q000379:methods*