Chiral Fluids of Light in Curved Space: Topology and Geometry with Cavity Rydberg Polaritons
Abstract
Materials made of light provide a fascinating platform to explore exotic topics in condensed matter physics. Like their cold-atom counterparts, photonic materials provide a unique set of tools for state manipulation and characterization, and directly realize certain exotic materials that are nearly impossible to create in the solid-state.Advances in photonic materials are driven by breakthroughs in optical manipulation tools; developments in this proposal promise to be beneficial to AFOSR interests in (1) quantum communication, (2) multispectral wave-front shaping, and (3) meta-material cloaking. To achieve the aforementioned topology control, we will develop spatially-resolved periodic driving of atomic optical-susceptibility to engineer non-local dynamics inaccessible to cold atoms or traditional materials. This manipulation tool may be employed more broadly as an rf-tunable spatial light modulator. This modulator has direct applications to (1) spread spectrum (in space and time) quantum information transmission, and (2) frequency-modulated structured light for optical information storage/retrieval and 3D scanning (among other things); (3) topology manipulation work will result in wormholes for 2D light-fields; extensions to 3D (if possible) correspond to cloaking.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- May 30, 2018
- Source ID
- FA95501810317
Entities
People
- Jonathan Simon
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- United States Air Force
- University of Chicago