Nanophotonics and Cavity-Enhanced Spectroscopy

Nanophotonics provides remarkable opportunities to shape the spatiotemporal profile of light. Structures like nanoparticles-on-mirror (NPoM) or metasurfaces enable field confinement below the native length-scale of individual molecules or with high control over scattering directionality and polarization, respectively. We leverage nanophotonic structures to (1) augment methods in single-molecule optical spectroscopy and (2) demonstrate exquisite control over individual emitters. These efforts are directed towards enabling spectroscopy under altered selection rules, light-based imaging with sub-nanometer resolution, and new ways to control the emission from single emitters and sense single-molecule dynamics. Our work leverages concepts and tools from quantum optics, including advancements in single-photon detection and interferometry.