Making two-photon processes dominate one-photon processes using mid-IR phonon polaritons
Phonon polaritons are guided hybrid modes of photons and optical phonons that can propagate on the surface of a polar dielectric. In this work, we show that the precise combination of confinement and bandwidth offered by phonon polaritons allows for the ability to create highly efficient sources of polariton pairs in the mid-IR/terahertz frequency ranges. Specifically, these polar dielectrics can cause emitters to preferentially decay by the emission of pairs of phonon polaritons, instead of the previously dominant single-photon emission. We show that such two-photon emission processes can occur on nanosecond time scales and can be nearly 2 orders of magnitude faster than competing single-photon transitions, as opposed to being as much as 8–10 orders of magnitude slower in free space. These results are robust to the choice of polar dielectric, allowing potentially versatile implementation in a host of materials such as hexagonal boron nitride, silicon carbide, and others. Our results suggest a design strategy for quantum light sources in the mid-IR/terahertz: ones that prefer to emit a relatively broad spectrum of photon pairs, potentially allowing for new sources of both single and multiple photons.
- Research Organization:
- Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Solid-State Solar-Thermal Energy Conversion Center (S3TEC); Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0001299; FG02- 97ER25308; FG02-09ER46577
- OSTI ID:
- 1413010
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1470494; OSTI ID: 1557842
- Journal Information:
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Journal Name: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Vol. 114 Journal Issue: 52; ISSN 0027-8424
- Publisher:
- National Academy of SciencesCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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