Topological Frenkel exciton polaritons in one-dimensional lattices of strongly coupled cavities

Abstract

Frenkel polaritons, hybrid light-matter quasiparticles, offer promise for the designing of new optoelectronic devices. However, their technological implementations are hindered by sensitivity to imperfections. Topology has been raised as a way to circumvent defects and fabrication limitations. Here, we propose a lattice of cavities to realize the one-dimensional Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model (SSH) for topological Frenkel polaritons. By engineering the configuration of the cavities we demonstrate that the SSH topological and trivial phases can be accessed, which we unravel by employing a dual approach based on classical and quantum theories. We study the role of inherent vibron modes and fabrication defects in the robustness of the topological phases of polaritons. Our study demonstrates a simple experimentally realistic setup to realize topological polaritons at room temperature.