Browsing by Author "Escalante, Richard"

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    Single Molecules for Quantum Information and Metrology
    (2024) Escalante, Richard; Maze Ríos, Jerónimo; Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Facultad de Física
    Single luminescent molecules provide a unique approach in the development of quantum technologies utilizing single photon sources. This includes quantum metrology by using a molecule’s sensitivity of its emission and magnetic properties to the local environment. In this thesis, we present our investigation of the optical properties of several different classes of luminescent molecules. We begin by providing some theoretical background of single quantum emitters as well as a brief description of the experimental methodologies and equipment. Next, we present an optical investigation of an ensemble of iron phthalocyanines molecules. This molecule possesses a ground state triplet, which is a desirable property for optically active spin qubits, but has a very weak optical emission. Diffraction limited spots displayed photo-instability in the form of blinking and irreversible bleaching. In ensemble form however, their optical stability allowed us to identify a possible Raman peak where we calculated the associated phonon frequency. Next, we present our single molecule study of vanadium phthalocyanine. This molecule has been documented as displaying very long spin coherence times even at room temperatures. We confirmed the presence of a single molecule by measuring the second order correlation function. Additionally, we looked at the intensity and spectral response as a function of the excitation laser polarization. The spectrum was fitted to a two Gaussian function, which may correspond to the two dipole transitions as suggested by theoretical calculations. Lastly, we looked at the optical properties of rare earth europium complexes known for having very sharp optical transitions in the emission spectrum, with each having varying levels of sensitivity to the local environment. Motivated by techniques to investigate non-radiative decay channels, we looked at the optical response of four different europium complexes under two 1 µs pulses of 515 nm laser separated by 1 µs. Each displayed a very different results and allowed us to identify the best candidates for single molecule studies. Finally, we looked at the emission spectrum as well as the optical response under a 6 µs long pulse using time-correlation single photon spectroscopy.