Abstract:
In this thesis we study controlled modification of the radiative transition rate and fluorescence spectrum of a single dye molecule and SiO2 nanoparticle (NP) by embedding it within a tunable planar microcavity with subwavelength spacing.
We develop a theoretical model and find excellent agreement between theoretical
prediction and experimental results. Whereas fluorescence of single dye molecules in glass-air confinement (i.e., in free space) is fairly well known, the details of optical properties of individual SiO2 NPs are still unclear. Therefore, a part of this thesis is dedicated to investigation of their photoluminescence in free space. In introduction of the thesis we present a tunable microcavity construction, which has been used for the measurements.