Novel ultrafast nonlinear materials and hybrid photonic-plasmonic nanostructures for IR multiband imaging and detection.
Abstract
The development of novel materials and nanostructures for room-temperature photon-number-resolving (PNR) integrated detectors in the quantum regime is essential to various applications of sensing, metrology, and quantum information science. Currently, the engineering of scalable, solid-state sensors and high-bandwidth photon detectors with PNR capabilities is severely limited by the timing jitter and dark-count rates of absorptive single-photon devices, particularly at infrared (IR) frequencies, likely requiring an entirely different approach. Responding to these challenges, in our project we propose to develop a solid-state ultrafast nonlinear optical platform based on strongly coupled plasmon-polariton nanostructures with dramatically enhanced Kerr-type nonlinearities that enable quantum nondemolition (QND) detection modalities at the nanoscale. The proposed approach leverages low-loss Si-compatible nonlinear materials with tunable epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) behavior that exhibit unprecedented optical nonlinearities beyond the traditional perturbative description. In particular, firmly building on our first demonstrations of enhanced optical nonlinearities in Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) nanomaterials tunable across the infrared spectral range, we will design and experimentally demonstrate a novel class of nonlinear photonic-plsmonic nano-antennas for the next generation of ultrafast infrared QND detectors and quantum sources integrated on the silicon platform. In partnership with the rigorous electromagnetic modeling of resonant polariton nanostructures and device-level quantum simulations in the strong light-matter coupling regime, we will address the fundamental optical responses and mechanisms that enable single-photon nonlinear optical phenomena at the nanoscale, unlocking the technological potential of the QND detection modalities in the 1-3µm spectral range. Specifically, using ab-initio coupled mode theory in synergy with nonlinear finite element method (FEM) simulations we will design polariton-coupled nano-antennas with strong light-matter interactions driven by Friedrich-Wintgen bound states in the continuum (FW-BICs) and multiple Tamm plasmon states (TPs) with Q>103 quality factors and sub-wavelength electric field concentration, dramatically enhancing the native optical nonlinearity of materials at the nanoscale. Linear and nonlinear optical characterization of materials and fabricated devices will be performed based on broadband spectroscopy, dark-field light scattering, and the Z-scan technique combined with third-harmonic generation (THG) spectroscopy. Our comprehensive set of theoretical and experimental activities enables the fundamental understanding of ITO-based coupled systems and provides the foundation for the development of novel quantum detection technologies based on single photon nonlinear optics in Kerr-type nanostructured materials on the silicon platform. The demonstration of high-Q states in IR-tunable plasmon-polariton resonant nanostructures provides unique opportunities for both experimental discoveries and theoretical advancements in the strategically important Army research area of integrated quantum devices and IR single-photon detection.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 02, 2022
- Source ID
- W911NF2210110
Entities
People
- Luca Dal Negro
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- Boston University
- United States Army