Amazing stuff!
"A team ... researchers has developed a new way to control light interactions using a specially engineered structure called a 3D photonic-crystal cavity. Their work ... lays the foundation for technologies that could enable transformative advancements in quantum computing, quantum communication and other quantum-based technologies.
an optical cavity ... a tailored structure that traps light between reflective surfaces, allowing it to bounce around in specific patterns.
These patterns with discrete frequencies are called cavity modes, and they can be used to enhance light-matter interactions, making them potentially useful in quantum information processing, developing high-precision lasers and sensors and building better photonic circuits and fiber-optic networks. ...
built a complex 3D optical cavity and used it to study how multiple cavity modes interact with a thin layer of free-moving electrons exposed to a static magnetic field. The key question guiding their investigation was what happens when multiple cavity modes interact with the electrons simultaneously. ...
leads to strong coupling between light and matter, creating quantum superposition states so-called polaritons.” ...
If the interaction binding photons and electrons into polaritons is extremely intense to the point where the exchange of energy between light and matter happens so fast it resists dissipation a new regime comes into effect known as ultrastrong coupling. ... describes an unusual mode of interaction between light and matter where the two become deeply hybridized ..."
From the abstract:
"Recent theoretical studies have highlighted how spatially varying cavity electromagnetic fields enable novel cavity quantum electrodynamics phenomena, such as the Dicke superradiant phase transition.
Three-dimensional photonic-crystal cavities, which exhibit discrete in-plane translational symmetry, overcome this limitation, but fabrication challenges have hindered the achievement of strong coupling.
Here, we demonstrate multimode ultrastrong coupling between cavity modes of a three-dimensional photonic-crystal cavity at terahertz frequencies and the cyclotron resonance of a Landau-quantized two-dimensional electron gas in gallium arsenide. The multimode coupling depends on the spatial profiles of the cavity modes, resulting in distinct coupling scenarios based on probe polarization.
Our results align with an extended multimode Hopfield model that accounts for spatial field variations.
Guided by the model, we discuss possible strong ground-state correlations between cavity modes and introduce relevant figures of merit for multimode ultrastrong coupling. Our findings highlight the crucial role of spatial inhomogeneity in multimode ultrastrong coupling."
Rice scientists uncover quantum surprise: Matter mediates ultrastrong coupling between light particles (original news release)
Fig. 1: The 3D-PCC [photonic-crystal cavities].
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