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Alignment of Rod‐Shaped Single‐Photon Emitters Driven by Line Defects in Liquid Crystals
Author(s) -
Pelliser Laurent,
Manceau Mathieu,
Lethiec Clotilde,
Coursault Delphine,
Vezzoli Stefano,
Leménager Godefroy,
Coolen Laurent,
DeVittorio Massimo,
Pisanello Ferruccio,
Carbone Luigi,
Maitre Agnes,
Bramati Alberto,
Lacaze Emmanuelle
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.201403331
Subject(s) - materials science , rod , dipole , liquid crystal , perpendicular , nanorod , anisotropy , polarization (electrochemistry) , molecular physics , linear polarization , optics , dislocation , photon , condensed matter physics , single crystal , optoelectronics , nanotechnology , nuclear magnetic resonance , physics , laser , medicine , chemistry , alternative medicine , geometry , mathematics , pathology , quantum mechanics , composite material
Arrays of liquid crystal defects—linear smectic dislocations—are used to trap semiconductor CdSe/CdS dot‐in‐rods which behave as single‐photon emitters. Measurements of the emission diagram are combined together with measurements of the emitted polarization of the single emitters. It is shown that the dot‐in‐rods are confined parallel to the linear defects to allow for a minimization of the disorder energy associated with the dislocation cores. It is demonstrated that the electric dipoles associated with the dot‐in‐rods, tilted with respect to the rods, remain oriented in the plane including the smectic linear defects and perpendicular to the substrate, most likely due to dipole/dipole interactions between the dipoles of the liquid crystal molecules and those of the dot‐in‐rods. Using smectic dislocations, nanorods can consequently be oriented along a unique direction for a given substrate, independently of the ligands' nature, without any induced aggregation, leading as well to a fixed azimuthal orientation for the dot‐in‐rods' dipoles. These results open the way for the fine control of nanoparticle anisotropic optical properties, in particular, fine control of single‐photon emission polarization.