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Title: Making two-photon processes dominate one-photon processes using mid-IR phonon polaritons

Abstract

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.

Authors:
; ; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
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 Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1413010
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1470494; OSTI ID: 1557842
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0001299; FG02- 97ER25308; FG02-09ER46577
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Published Article
Journal Name:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Journal Volume: 114 Journal Issue: 52; Journal ID: ISSN 0027-8424
Publisher:
National Academy of Sciences
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS; two-photon processes; phonon polaritons; light–matter interactions; Purcell effect; nanophotonics

Citation Formats

Rivera, Nicholas, Rosolen, Gilles, Joannopoulos, John D., Kaminer, Ido, and Soljačić, Marin. Making two-photon processes dominate one-photon processes using mid-IR phonon polaritons. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1073/pnas.1713538114.
Rivera, Nicholas, Rosolen, Gilles, Joannopoulos, John D., Kaminer, Ido, & Soljačić, Marin. Making two-photon processes dominate one-photon processes using mid-IR phonon polaritons. United States. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1713538114
Rivera, Nicholas, Rosolen, Gilles, Joannopoulos, John D., Kaminer, Ido, and Soljačić, Marin. 2017. "Making two-photon processes dominate one-photon processes using mid-IR phonon polaritons". United States. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1713538114.
@article{osti_1413010,
title = {Making two-photon processes dominate one-photon processes using mid-IR phonon polaritons},
author = {Rivera, Nicholas and Rosolen, Gilles and Joannopoulos, John D. and Kaminer, Ido and Soljačić, Marin},
abstractNote = {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.},
doi = {10.1073/pnas.1713538114},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1413010}, journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America},
issn = {0027-8424},
number = 52,
volume = 114,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Dec 12 00:00:00 EST 2017},
month = {Tue Dec 12 00:00:00 EST 2017}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record at https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1713538114

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 42 works
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