A hybrid approach towards nanophotonic devices with enhanced functionality

We introduce a hybrid approach for the realization of nano-photonic devices with enhanced functionality by combining lithographic fabrication techniques with a nanomanipulation method. In particular, we report on the fabrication of photonic crystal cavities as a platform to which arbitrary emitters or other nanoscopic objects can be coupled in a deterministic way by exploiting the manipulation capabilities of an atomic force microscope. This approach is well suited to create, e.g., improved single photon sources and also complex photonic devices with several emitters coupled coherently via shared cavity modes. (C) 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim