Three-dimensional orientation of single molecules in a tunable optical lambda/2 microresonator.

Gutbrod, Raphael; Khoptyar, Dmitry; Steiner, Mathias; Chizhik, Anna M; Chizhik, Alexey I; Bär, Sebastian; Meixner, Alfred J · Nano Lett · 2010

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

A tightly focused radially polarized laser beam forms an unusual bimodal field distribution in an optical lambda/2-microresonator. We use a single-molecule dipole to probe the vector properties of this field distribution by tuning the resonator length with nanometer precision. Comparing calculated and experimental excitation patterns provides the three-dimensional orientation of the single-molecule dipole in the microresonator.

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