Superfluorescent upconversion nanoparticles as an emerging second generation quantum technology material

Lewis E. MacKenzie*, Peter Kirton

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Superfluorescence (SF) in lanthanide doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) is a room-temperature quantum phenomenon, first discovered in 2022. In a SF process, the many emissive lanthanide ions within a single UCNP are coherently coupled by an ultra-short (ns or fs) high-power excitation laser pulse. This leads to a superposition of excited emissive states which decrease the emissive lifetime of the UCNP by a factor proportional to the square of the number of lanthanide ions which are coherently coupled. This results in a dramatic decrease in UCNP emission lifetime from the μs regime to the ns regime. Thus SF offers a tantalizing prospect to achieving superior upconversion photon flux in upconversion materials, with potential applications such as imaging and sensing. This perspective article contextualizes how SF-UCNPs can be regarded as a second generation quantum technology, and notes several challenges, opportunities, and open questions for the development of SF-UCNPs.
Original languageEnglish
JournalNanoscale Horizons
Early online date1 May 2025
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 1 May 2025

Funding

L. M. had prior relevant support from the BBSRC [Discovery Fellowship] (BB/T009268/1); The Royal Society of Chemistry [Research Enablement Grant] (E21-5833576777); The Royal Society [Research Grant] (RGS\R1\221139); and The Carnegie Trust [Research Incentive Grant] (RIG013288).

Keywords

  • Superfluorescence
  • excited emissive states
  • upconversion materials
  • quantum technology

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