Efficient Light-matter Interaction Research Articles

Direct observation of a few-photon phase shift induced by a single quantum emitter in a waveguide

Realizing a sensitive photon-number-dependent phase shift on a light beam is required both in classical and quantum photonics. It may lead to new applications for classical and quantum photonics machine learning or pave the way for realizing photon-photon gate operations. Nonlinear phase-shifts require efficient light-matter interaction, and recently quantum dots coupled to nanophotonic devices have enabled near-deterministic single-photon coupling. We experimentally realize an optical phase shift of 0.19π ± 0.03 radians ( ≈ 34 degrees) using a weak coherent state interacting with a single quantum dot in a planar nanophotonic waveguide. The phase shift is probed by interferometric measurements of the light scattered from the quantum dot in the waveguide. The process is nonlinear in power, the saturation at the single-photon level and compatible with scalable photonic integrated circuitry. The work may open new prospects for realizing high-efficiency optical switching or be applied for proof-of-concept quantum machine learning or quantum simulation demonstrations.

Silicon nitride (Si3N4) leads to enhanced performance of silica-silver based plasmonic sensor for colorectal cancer detection under optimum radiation damping

Silicon Nitride (Si3N4) possesses large refractive index and transparent behaviour in a broad spectral range from ultraviolet to infrared. These properties of Si3N4 facilitate an efficient light-matter interaction leading to enhanced light confinement. In this work, we have investigated Si3N4-based plasmonic sensor for pathogenic colorectal tissues detection at a wavelength of 1000 nm. The sensor structure consists of fused silica prism and Ag–Si3N4 heterojunction. The figure-of-merit (FOM) of the sensor is optimized by judiciously coordinating the thickness of Ag layer (dM) and Si3N4 layer (dA) under optimum radiation damping (ORD). An optimized FOM as high as 6011 RIU−1 (at dM = 47.3 nm) has been achieved corresponding to dA = 8.6 nm under ORD. At ORD, the corresponding power loss ratio (PLR) is as high as 2.773, and the normalized electric field enhancement factor (FEF) is about 1.06. The magnitude of combined performance factor (CPF), which is the product of FOM, PLR and FEF, of the proposed sensor is as large as 17668.61 RIU−1. The proposed application of Si3N4 in plasmonic sensor in combination with ORD condition leads to substantially enhanced sensing performance and has been explored for the first time to the best of our knowledge.

Independent Electrical Control of Two Quantum Dots Coupled through a Photonic-Crystal Waveguide.

Efficient light-matter interaction at the single-photon level is of fundamental importance in emerging photonic quantum technology. A fundamental challenge is addressing multiple quantum emitters at once, as intrinsic inhomogeneities of solid-state platforms require individual tuning of each emitter. We present the realization of two semiconductor quantum dot emitters that are efficiently coupled to a photonic-crystal waveguide and individually controllable by applying a local electric Stark field. We present resonant transmission and fluorescence spectra in order to probe the coupling of the two emitters to the waveguide. We exploit the single-photon stream from one quantum dot to perform spectroscopy on the second quantum dot positioned 16 μm away in the waveguide. Furthermore, power-dependent resonant transmission measurements reveal signatures of coherent coupling between the emitters. Our work provides a scalable route to realizing multiemitter collective coupling, which has inherently been missing for solid-state deterministic photon emitters.

Strong coupling of multiple optical interface modes with ultra-narrow linewidth in one-dimensional topological photonic heterostructures.

Coherent coupling of optical modes with a high Q-factor underpins realization of efficient light-matter interaction with multi-channels in resonant nanostructures. Here we theoretically studied the strong longitudinal coupling of three topological photonic states (TPSs) in a one-dimensional topological photonic crystal heterostructure embedded with a graphene monolayer in the visible frequencies. It is found that the three TPSs can strongly interplay with one another in the longitudinal direction, enabling a large Rabi splitting (∼ 48 meV) in spectral response. The triple-band perfect absorption and selective longitudinal field confinement have been demonstrated, where the linewidth of hybrid modes can reach 0.2 nm with Q-factor up to 2.6 × 103. Mode hybridization of dual- and triple-TPSs were investigated by calculation of the field profiles and Hopfield coefficients of the hybrid modes. Moreover, simulation results further show that resonant frequencies of the three hybrid TPSs can be actively controlled by simply changing the incident angle or structural parameters, which are nearly polarization independent in this strong coupling system. With the multichannel, narrow-band light trapping and selectively strong field localization in this simple multilayer regime, one can envision new possibilities for developing the practical topological photonic devices for on-chip optical detection, sensing, filtering, and light-emitting.

Quasi-guided modes resulting from the band folding effect in a photonic crystal slab for enhanced interactions of matters with free-space radiations.

We elucidate that guided modes supported by a regular photonic crystal slab structure composed of a square lattice of air holes in a silicon slab will transition into quasi-guided (leaky) modes when the radius of every second column of air holes is changed slightly. This intentional geometric perturbation will lead to a doubling of the period in one direction and the corresponding shrinkage of the first Brillouin zone. Because of the translational symmetry in the k-space, leaky waves inheriting the spatial dispersion of the original guided modes, which do not interact with external radiation, will appear with the dispersion curves above the light cone. Our results show that ultrahigh Q-factor resonances with large operating bandwidth can be achieved. Interestingly, the perturbation in only one direction of the photonic lattice will lead to an in-plane wave number-dependent resonance characteristic in both directions. Our numerical results demonstrate a local enhancement of the electric field magnitude by the order of 102, which is even more significant than those in most plasmonic structures. These quasi-guided modes with superior properties will provide a new platform for efficient light-matter interactions.

Horizontal and vertical stacked Ag/MoS2 nanostructure enabled excellent carrier mobility and optoelectronic properties

Amongst 2D materials, MoS2 with highly exposed atomic edges and large specific surface area are considered potentially strong candidates for optoelectronic devices such as photogenerated electron transport layer, saturated/reverse saturated light absorber. With these prospects in mind, doped nanohybrid system was employed as a “accelerator” for problems related to conductivity and field emission. Herein, the horizontal-vertical stacked Ag/MoS2 films including horizontal nanolayer and vertical nanosheets (NSs) was firstly presented, which exhibit excellent carrier mobility and luminescence characteristics. We have confirmed that the morphology of the Ag/MoS2 NSs (including microworm-like, worm-like, and sheet-like shape), Ag content, micro strain and crystallinity can be adjusted under the different substrate temperature. Base on anisotropy bonding and ultrafast chemical conversion effect of MoS2, the cross-layer diffusion of sputtered atoms is suppressed, thereby the subsequent deposited atoms preferring to diffuse along the van der Waals gap. The efficient light-matter interaction and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect is introduced by the abundant exposed S-edges of horizontal-vertical stacked Ag-MoS2 nanostructure, which lead to excellent Raman signal and linear absorption characteristic. The carrier mobility and concentration of Ag/MoS2 NSs with excellent electrical behavior has reached 4480 cm2 V-1S-1 and 3.272 × 1018 cm−2, which can be regarded as the unique ohmic contact and the electron injection effect. Further, the luminescence performance (visible light region) of horizontal-vertical stacked Ag/MoS2-350 °C NSs is 2.5 times higher than that of the original MoS2 NSs, which is dominated by the hot electron injection effect. Importantly, the carrier relaxation time guided by the nonradiative recombination behavior of Ag/MoS2-350 °C NSs was not significantly changed by the incorporation of Ag nanoparticles. The above phenomenon implies that the hot electron injection effect mainly promotes the photoluminescence behavior induced by radiative recombination. The homogeneous and controllable Ag/MoS2 NSs exhibits excellent multiple optoelectronic properties, which can provide a valuable reference strategy for the application of optoelectronic nano-film materials.

100 GHz micrometer-compact broadband monolithic ITO Mach–Zehnder interferometer modulator enabling 3500 times higher packing density

Abstract Electro-optic modulators provide a key function in optical transceivers and increasingly in photonic programmable application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for machine learning and signal processing. However, both foundry-ready silicon-based modulators and conventional material-based devices utilizing lithium-niobate fall short in simultaneously providing high chip packaging density and fast speed. Current-driven ITO-based modulators have the potential to achieve both enabled by efficient light–matter interactions. Here, we introduce micrometer-compact Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI)-based modulators capable of exceeding 100 GHz switching rates. Integrating ITO-thin films atop a photonic waveguide, one can achieve an efficient V π L ${V}_{\pi }L$ = 0.1 V mm, spectrally broadband, and compact MZI phase shifter. Remarkably, this allows integrating more than 3500 of these modulators within the same chip area as only one single silicon MZI modulator. The modulator design introduced here features a holistic photonic, electronic, and RF-based optimization and includes an asymmetric MZI tuning step to optimize the extinction ratio (ER)-to-insertion loss (IL) and dielectric thickness sweep to balance the trade-offs between ER and speed. Driven by CMOS compatible bias voltage levels, this device is the first to address next-generation modulator demands for processors of the machine intelligence revolution, in addition to the edge and cloud computing demands as well as optical transceivers alike.

Tuning absorption and emission in monolayer semiconductors: a brief survey

We review the physical mechanisms that allow tuning of absorption and emission characteristics in monolayer semiconductors. We use the model system of transition metal dichalcogenide mono-layers such as MoSe 2 or WSe 2 due to their very efficient light-matter interaction and availability of high quality samples. For monolayers encapsulated in hexagonal boron nitride both homogeneous and inhomogenous contributions to the exciton optical transition linewidth can be tuned opening up pathways for tailoring the reflectivity and absorption in van der Waals heterostructures.

Enhanced Multiphoton Processes in Perovskite Metasurfaces.

Multiphoton absorption and luminescence are fundamentally important nonlinear processes for utilizing efficient light-matter interaction. Resonant enhancement of nonlinear processes has been demonstrated for many nanostructures; however, it is believed that all higher-order processes are always much weaker than their corresponding linear processes. Here, we study multiphoton luminescence from structured surfaces and, combining multiple advantages of perovskites with the concept of metasurfaces, we demonstrate that the efficiency of nonlinear multiphoton processes can become comparable to the efficiency of the linear process. We reveal that the perovskite metasurface can enhance substantially two-photon stimulated emission with the threshold being comparable with that of the one-photon process. Our modeling of free-carrier dynamics and exciton recombination upon nonlinear photoexcitation uncovers that this effect can be attributed to the local field enhancement in structured media, a substantial increase of the mode overlap, and the selection rules of two-photon absorption in perovskites.

Controlling wave fronts with tunable disordered non-Hermitian multilayers

Unique and flexible properties of non-Hermitian photonic systems attract ever-increasing attention via delivering a whole bunch of novel optical effects and allowing for efficient tuning light-matter interactions on nano- and microscales. Together with an increasing demand for the fast and spatially compact methods of light governing, this peculiar approach paves a broad avenue to novel optical applications. Here, unifying the approaches of disordered metamaterials and non-Hermitian photonics, we propose a conceptually new and simple architecture driven by disordered loss-gain multilayers and, therefore, providing a powerful tool to control both the passage time and the wave-front shape of incident light with different switching times. For the first time we show the possibility to switch on and off kink formation by changing the level of disorder in the case of adiabatically raising wave fronts. At the same time, we deliver flexible tuning of the output intensity by using the nonlinear effect of loss and gain saturation. Since the disorder strength in our system can be conveniently controlled with the power of the external pump, our approach can be considered as a basis for different active photonic devices.

Vertical 0D-Perovskite/2D-MoS2 van der Waals Heterojunction Phototransistor for Emulating Photoelectric-Synergistically Classical Pavlovian Conditioning and Neural Coding Dynamics.

Optoelectronic-neuromorphic transistors are vital for next-generation nanoscale brain-like computational systems. However, the hardware implementation of optoelectronic-neuromorphic devices, which are based on conventional transistor architecture, faces serious challenges with respect to the synchronous processing of photoelectric information. This is because mono-semiconductor material cannot absorb adequate light to ensure efficient light-matter interactions. In this work, a novel neuromorphic-photoelectric device of vertical van der Waals heterojunction phototransistors based on a colloidal 0D-CsPbBr3 -quantum-dots/2D-MoS2 heterojunction channel is proposed using a polymer ion gel electrolyte as the gate dielectric. A highly efficient photocarrier transport interface is established by introducing colloidal perovskite quantum dots with excellent light absorption capabilities on the 2D-layered MoS2 semiconductor with strong carrier transport abilities. The device exhibits not only high photoresponsivity but also fundamental synaptic characteristics, such as excitatory postsynaptic current, paired-pulse facilitation, dynamic temporal filter, and light-tunable synaptic plasticity. More importantly, efficiency-adjustable photoelectronic Pavlovian conditioning and photoelectronic hybrid neuronal coding behaviors can be successfully implemented using the optical and electrical synergy approach. The results suggest that the proposed device has potential for applications associated with next-generation brain-like photoelectronic human-computer interactions and cognitive systems.

Passively Q-switched Erbium-doped Fiber Laser using Tungsten Disulfide deposited D-shaped Fiber as Saturable Absorber

This paper generates a stable Q-switching output wavelength 1560 nm by utilizing tungsten disulfide (WS2) as saturable absorber on D-shaped fiber in erbium-doped fiber laser. D-shaped fiber was prepared by using polishing wheel technique with rough and fine polishing is conducted to ensure efficient light-matter interaction inside D-shaped optical fibre. Proposed Q-switched erbium-doped fiber laser generates shortest pulse duration of 3.25 μs with repetition rate of 108.90 kHz. Q-switched generated was stable under pump power of 84.02 mW to 182.92 mW. Obtaining signal-to-noise ratio of 40.58 dB, Q-switched induced contain pulse energy of 14.60 nJ with output power of 0.64 mW to 1.59 mW. Therefore, proposed D-shaped fiber-WS2 as saturable absorber was stable and efficient for making a portable laser source based on Q-switched.

Investigation of the transit-time broadening in optical nanofiber based spectroscopy.

Optical nanofiber is a widely adopted platform for highly efficient light-matter interaction by virtue of its exposed evanescent field with high light intensity. However, the strongly constrained mode field with the wavelength-scale size makes the light-matter interaction time limited in consideration of the random thermal motion of warm molecules, which results in considerable transit-time dephasing and thus line broadening. Here we report a systematic study of the transit-time effect associated with the optical nanofibers. Both simulation and experiment for nanofibers exposed in acetylene demonstrate the considerable transit-time broadened linewidth in the low-pressure range.

Passively Q-switched erbium-doped fiber laser utilizing lutetium oxide deposited onto D-shaped fiber as saturable absorber

We managed to produce a stable Q-switched pulse laser operating at 1563 nm using Lutetium (III) oxide (Lu2O3) material as a saturable absorber (SA). The Lu2O3 was deposited onto a D-shaped optical fiber and inserted into an erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) cavity for pulse generation. The D-shaped fiber was prepared by polishing wheel technique using rough and fine sandpapers to obtain a smooth surface and thus ensure an efficient light-matter interaction inside the SA. The proposed Q-switched EDFL generated pulses with duration as short as 11.84 μs at a repetition rate of 19.7 kHz. The Q-switched laser output was stable within the pump power of 68 mW–96 mW with the corresponding pulse energy and output power of 0.16 μJ–0.18 μJ and 2.76 mW–3.49 mW respectively. The signal-to-noise ratio was around 46.26 dB, which indicates the stability of the laser. The results show that the proposed Lu2O3 SA based on D-shaped fiber is suitable for realizing a portable Q-switched light source.

Controlling high- Q trapped modes in polarization-insensitive all-dielectric metasurfaces

We reveal peculiarities of the trapped (dark) mode excitation in a polarization-insensitive all-dielectric metasurface, whose unit super-cell is constructed by particularly arranging four cylindrical dielectric particles. Involving group-theoretical description we discuss in detail the effect of different orientations of particles within the super-cell on characteristics of the trapped mode. The theoretical predictions are confirmed by numerical simulations and experimental investigations. Since the metasurface is realized from simple dielectric particles without the use of any metallic components, they are feasibly scalable to both micro- and nanometer-size structures, and they can be employed in flat-optics platforms for realizing efficient light-matter interaction for multiple hotspot light localization, optical sensing, and highly-efficient light trapping.

Signal reshaping and noise suppression using photonic crystal Fano structures.

We experimentally demonstrate the use of photonic crystal Fano resonances for reshaping optical data signals. We show that the combination of an asymmetric Fano resonance and carrier-induced nonlinear effects in a nanocavity can be used to realize a nonlinear power transfer function, which is a key functionality for optical signal regeneration, particularly for suppression of amplitude fluctuations of data signals. The experimental results are explained using simulations based on coupled-mode theory and also compared to the case of using conventional Lorentzian-shaped resonances. Using indium phosphide photonic crystal membrane structures, we demonstrate reshaping of 2 Gbit/s and 10 Gbit/s return-to-zero on-off keying (RZ-OOK) data signals at telecom wavelengths around 1550 nm. Eye diagrams of the reshaped signals show that amplitude noise fluctuations can be significantly suppressed. The reshaped signals are quantitatively analyzed using bit-error ratio (BER) measurements, which show up to 2 dB receiver sensitivity improvement at a BER of 10-9 compared to a degraded input noisy signal. Due to efficient light-matter interaction in the high-quality factor and small mode-volume photonic crystal nanocavity, low energy consumption, down to 104 fJ/bit and 41 fJ/bit for 2 Gbit/s and 10 Gbit/s, respectively, has been achieved. Device perspectives and limitations are discussed.

(Invited) 2D and 2D/3D hybrid Photodetectors

2-dimensional materials show efficient light-matter interaction. In this talk, 2D material based photodetectors will be discussed. First, graphene detectors and modulators co-integrated with silicon photonics will be covered. The second part will introduce highly sensitive 2D/3D heterostructures.

Bright single photons for light-matter interaction

Single photons of subnatural linewidth and high spectral brightness are necessary for efficient light-matter interaction at the single photon level, which lies at the heart of many quantum photonic technologies. Here we demonstrate a bright source of single photons with subnatural linewidth, controllable waveforms, and a high spectral brightness of $3.67 \times 10^5$ s$^{-1}$mW$^{-1}$MHz$^{-1}$. The interaction between the single photons and atoms is demonstrated by the controlled absorption of the single photons in an atomic vapor. Our work has potential applications in quantum information technologies.

Enhanced Extraction of Silicon-Vacancy Centers Light Emission Using Bottom-Up Engineered Polycrystalline Diamond Photonic Crystal Slabs

Silicon vacancy (SiV) centers are optically active defects in diamond. The SiV centers, in contrast to nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers, possess narrow and efficient luminescence spectrum (centered at ≈738 nm) even at room temperature, which can be utilized for quantum photonics and sensing applications. However, most of light generated in diamond is trapped in the material due to the phenomenon of total internal reflection. In order to overcome this issue, we have prepared two-dimensional photonic crystal slabs from polycrystalline diamond thin layers with high density of SiV centers employing bottom-up growth on quartz templates. We have shown that the spectral overlap between the narrow light emission of the SiV centers and the leaky modes extracting the emission into almost vertical direction (where it can be easily detected) can be obtained by controlling the deposition time. More than 14-fold extraction enhancement of the SiV centers photoluminescence was achieved compared to an uncorrugated sample. Computer simulation confirmed that the extraction enhancement originates from the efficient light-matter interaction between light emitted from the SiV centers and the photonic crystal slab.

Plasmonic Purcell factor and coupling efficiency to surface plasmons. Implications for addressing and controlling optical nanosources

The Purcell factor Fp is a key quantity in cavity quantum electrodynamics (cQED) that quantifies the coupling rate between a dipolar emitter and a cavity mode. Its simple form unravels the possible strategies to enhance and control light–matter interaction. Practically, efficient light–matter interaction is achieved thanks to either (i) high quality factor Q at the basis of cQED or (ii) low modal volume V at the basis of nanophotonics and plasmonics. In the last decade, strong efforts have been done to derive a plasmonic Purcell factor in order to transpose cQED concepts to the nanocale, in a scale-law approach. In this work, we discuss the plasmonic Purcell factor for both delocalized (SPP) and localized (LSP) surface-plasmon-polaritons and briefly summarize the expected applications for nanophotonics. On the basis of the SPP resonance shape (Lorentzian or Fano profile), we derive closed form expression for the coupling rate to delocalized plasmons. The quality factor factor and modal confinement of both SPP and LSP are quantified, demonstrating their strongly subwavelength behavior.