Optimal Optical Systems for Collecting Photoluminescence of Point Emitters

Many applications that leverage optics, and explorations in fundamental physics, are limited by the experimenter’s ability to collect luminescence from point emitters embedded in solid state hosts. Here we explore the limitations imposed by the common type of optical systems used for this purpose, and we compare them against proposed alternative designs. In addition to comparing their collection efficiency, these new designs are also analyzed for tolerance in the lateral and axial position of the emitters with respect to reference auxiliary surfaces or alignment guides. Ray-optics and FDTD simulations will be used to quantify the proposed alternatives. Both an objective composed of spherical surfaces and a metalens implementation will be presented.