The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 27, 2006
Filed:
Mar. 04, 2004
William E. Moerner, Los Altos, CA (US);
Brahim Lounis, Bordeaux, FR;
William E. Moerner, Los Altos, CA (US);
Brahim Lounis, Bordeaux, FR;
The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A controllable single-photon source having a single illuminated molecule in a condensed phase host is provided. The single molecule is illuminated with a pulse of radiation having a wavelength such that the molecule is excited to a vibrational state higher in energy than an associated excited electronic state. The molecule rapidly, incoherently and irreversibly decays, with a lifetime Tvib, from the vibrational state to the excited electronic state by transferring the corresponding vibrational energy to the host. The excited electronic state has a lifetime T, and with high probability the single molecule makes a radiative transition from this state to emit a single photon. The pump pulse duration Tp satisfies the condition Tvib<Tp<T. Room temperature operation and spectral separation of pump and single-photon radiation are thereby provided. A semiconductor nanocrystal can be used instead of a molecule.