ONR - Materials Design of Optical Strong Coupling for Advanced Imaging and Sensing Applications
Abstract
Optical strong coupling has provided the basis for several fundamental advances, including Bose-Einstein condensates, modified vibrational lifetimes, enhanced molecular sensitivities for sensing applications, and user-control of spatial coherence from incoherent emitters. There are plenty of platforms for exploring such strong coupling interactions, yet, at best they tend to limit the modal volumes to scales on the order of the free-space wavelength at best. Efforts in the Oh and Caldwell labs have demonstrated paths towards dramatically shrinking the modal volume, which can offer significant amplification of the coupling strength, with recent work using epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) coaxial structures being employed to demonstrate ultra-strong polariton coupling. Here, we propose threekey tasks to 1) dictate and electrically control the strength of the polaritonic interactions for 2) amplifying upconversion of mid-IR photons to silicon CMOS-imaging compatible frequencies, and 3) controlling the vibrational lifetime of bio- and chemically relevant species. We will extend cavity sizes down to the single monolayer limit, quantifying the interplay between the modal volume, oscillator strengths, and concentrations within the nonlocal limit. This will be achieved through coaxial designs, which enable sub-2-nm inter-resonator gaps. The results offer significant promise in achieving higher spatial resolution thermal imagers, modified vibrational lifetimes for chemical signature and reactivity control, and fundamental advances in our understanding of polaritonic modes within the ultra-strong coupling limit.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- May 15, 2024
- Source ID
- N000142412284
Entities
People
- Sang-Hyun Oh
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- Regents of the University of Minnesota
- United States Navy