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arXiv · quant-ph/0604177

Strong extinction of a laser beam by a single molecule

I. Gerhardt·G. Wrigge·P. Bushev·G. Zumofen·R. Pfab·V. Sandoghdar
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Abstract

We present an experiment where a single molecule strongly affects the amplitude and phase of a laser field emerging from a subwavelength aperture. We achieve a visibility of -6% in direct and +10% in cross-polarized detection schemes. Our analysis shows that a close to full extinction should be possible using near-field excitation.

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I. Gerhardt, G. Wrigge, P. Bushev, G. Zumofen, R. Pfab, V. Sandoghdar. 2006-04-24. Strong extinction of a laser beam by a single molecule. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.98.033601

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