Enhancement and modulation of spontaneous emission near graphene-based hyperbolic metamaterials

Abstract

We theoretically investigate the spontaneous emission of a quantum emitter near the surface of a hyperbolic metamaterial (HMM) which is alternately stacked by graphene and silicon (Si). Compared with that near the surface of ordinary material, spontaneous emission decay rate near HMM has an giant enhancement in a very wide frequency range because of the excitation of highly localized bulk plasmon polariton in HMM. Even comparing with that near graphene under the same conditions, the spontaneous emission decay rate near HMM can be enhanced by several orders of magnitude. Furthermore, the spontaneous emission decay rate determined by HLBPPs can be flexibly modulated by chemical potential which is tuned by gate voltage. In addition, the interaction between two quantum emitters nearby graphene-based HMM in the reflection configuration is also considered, and the super- and subradiative regimes can be obtained. More importantly, the superradiative state to the subradiative state of the system can be switched freely by external field. The results in this study offer another platform to enhance spontaneous emission and tune the interaction between two emitters.