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Optical detection and spectroscopy of single molecules in a solid

W. E. Moerner and L. Kador
Phys. Rev. Lett. 62, 2535 – Published 22 May 1989
Physics logo See Focus story: Nobel Prize—Seeing Single Molecules
An article within the collection: The Physical Review Journals Celebrate The International Year of Light
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Abstract

Using two different double-modulation techniques, we have observed the optical-absorption spectrum of single dopant molecules of pentacene in a p-terphenyl host crystal at liquid-helium temperatures. To achieve this, frequency-modulation spectroscopy was combined either with Stark or ultrasonic modulation to remove interfering background signals from residual amplitude modulation, and the number of molecules in resonance was reduced to one by operating in the wings of the inhomogeneous line. Triplet bottleneck saturation appears to be suppressed in the single-molecule regime.

  • Received 17 March 1989

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.62.2535

©1989 American Physical Society

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This article appears in the following collection:

The Physical Review Journals Celebrate The International Year of Light

The editors of the Physical Review journals revisit papers that represent important breakthroughs in the field of optics.

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Nobel Prize—Seeing Single Molecules

Published 13 October 2014

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry recognizes the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy. Much of this field can be traced back to the first detection of single molecules in solids.

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Authors & Affiliations

W. E. Moerner and L. Kador

  • IBM Research Division, Almaden Research Center, San Jose, California 95120

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Issue

Vol. 62, Iss. 21 — 22 May 1989

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