Contamination of polymethylmethacrylate by organic quantum emitters
/ Authors
/ Abstract
We report the observation of ubiquitous contamination of polymethylmethacrylate by organic molecules with optical activity in the visible spectral range. Contamination sites of individual solvent-specific fluorophores in thin films of polymethylmethacrylate constitute fluorescence hot-spots with quantum emission statistics and quantum yields approaching 30% at cryogenic temperatures. Our findings not only resolve prevalent puzzles in the assignment of spectral features to various nanoemitters in polymer matrices, they also identify means for simple and cost-efficient realization of single-photon sources in the visible spectral range.