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Dr. Tobias Utikal

  • Wissenschaftlicher Referent (Research Coordinator)
  • Room: A.3.232
  • Telephone: +49 9131 7133316
  • E-mail

My research interest ranges from cryogenic Nano-Quantum-Optics with single emitters to Nano-Bio-Photonics using iSCAT microscopy. As research coordinator of the division I am involved in many research projects pushing the experiments forward, coordinating resources, and preserving the knowledge in the group. In various exploratory side-projects I am breaking new ground for future experiments.

I am always interested in the latest technology developments of narrow-band lasers, cryogenics, nano-positioning, microscopy at and beyond the diffraction limit, single photon detectors, and scientific cameras.

2021

Single-molecule vacuum Rabi splitting: four-wave mixing and optical switching at the single-photon level

André Pscherer, Manuel Meierhofer, Daqing Wang, Hrishikesh Kelkar, Diego-Martin Cano, Tobias Utikal, Stephan Götzinger, Vahid Sandoghdar

Physical Review Letters 127 133603 (2021) | Journal

A single quantum emitter can possess a very strong intrinsic nonlinearity, but its overall promise for nonlinear effects is hampered by the challenge of efficient coupling to incident photons. Common nonlinear optical materials, on the other hand, are easy to couple to but are bulky, imposing a severe limitation on the miniaturization of photonic systems. In this work, we show that a single organic molecule acts as an extremely efficient nonlinear optical element in the strong coupling regime of cavity quantum electrodynamics. We report on single-photon sensitivity in nonlinear signal generation and all-optical switching. Our work promotes the use of molecules for applications such as integrated photonic circuits, operating at very low powers.

suggested by editors

Nanoscopic charge fluctuations in a gallium phosphide waveguide measured by single molecules

Alexey Shkarin, Dominik Rattenbacher, Jan Renger, Simon Hönl, Tobias Utikal, Paul Seidler, Stephan Götzinger, Vahid Sandoghdar

Physical Review Letters 126 133602 (2021) | Journal

We present efficient coupling of single organic molecules to a gallium phosphide subwavelengthwaveguide (nanoguide). By examining and correlating the temporal dynamics of various single-molecule resonances at different locations along the nanoguide, we reveal light-induced fluctuationsof their Stark shifts. Our observations are consistent with the predictions of a simple model basedon the optical activation of a small number of charges in the GaP nanostructure.

Tobias Utikal studied Physics at University of Bonn from 2001 to 2007. For his Diploma thesis on “Ultrafast Spectroscopy of Metallic Photonic Crystals” he moved to University of Stuttgart where he worked in the group of Prof. Harald Giessen. The following PhD thesis on “Ultrafast Nonlinear Spectroscopy of Hybrid Plasmonic Systems” he partially conducted at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart. In 2011 he joined the Group of Prof. Vahid Sandoghdar at ETH Zurich as a postdoc. After the move of the group to the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) in Erlangen he became a permanent senior scientist and is acting as research coordinator of the division. In his function as safety officer he is member of the work safety council of the institute. Tobias has been elected as the scientific staff representative of MPL from 2015 – 2021.

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