Hybrid gap modes induced by fiber taper waveguides: Application in spectroscopy of single solid-state emitters deposited on thin films

We show, via simulations, that an optical fiber taper waveguide can be an efficient tool for photoluminescence and resonant, extinction spectroscopy of single emitters, such as molecules or colloidal quantum dots, deposited on the surface of a thin dielectric membrane. Placed over a high refractive index membrane, a tapered fiber waveguide induces the formation of hybrid mode waves, akin to dielectric slotted waveguide modes, that provide strong field confinement in the low index gap region. The availability of such gap-confined waves yields potentially high spontaneous emission enhancement factors (approximate to 20), fluorescence collection efficiencies (approximate to 23%), and transmission extinction (approximate to 20%) levels. A factor of two improvement in fluorescence and extinction levels is predicted if the membrane is instead replaced with a suspended channel waveguide. Two configurations, for operation in the visible (approximate to 600 nm) and near-infrared (approximate to 1300 nm) spectral ranges are evaluated, presenting similar performances. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America