Coherent state preparation and observation of Rabi oscillations in a single molecule

We report on the excitation of single molecules via narrow zero-phonon transitions using short laser pulses. By monitoring the Stokes-shifted fluorescence, we studied the excited state population as a function of the delay time, laser intensity, and frequency detuning. A pi-pulse excitation was demonstrated with merely 500 photons, and 5 Rabi cycles were achieved at higher excitation powers. Our findings are in good agreement with theoretical calculations and provide a first step toward coherent manipulation of the electronic states of single molecules with few photons.