Abstract
We study the statistics of the fluorescence decay rates for single quantum emitters embedded in a scattering medium undergoing a phase transition. Under certain circumstances, the structural properties of the scattering medium explore a regime in which the system dynamically switches between two different phases. While in that regime the light-scattering properties of both phases are hardly distinguishable, we demonstrate that the lifetime statistics of single emitters with low diffusivity is clearly dependent on the dynamical state in which the medium evolves. Hence, lifetime statistics provides clear signatures of phase switching in systems where light scattering does not.
- Received 13 June 2016
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.94.043832
©2016 American Physical Society