October 2015
Spotlight Summary by Nickolas Vamivakas
Ultra hybrid plasmonics: strong coupling of plexcitons with plasmon polaritons
The understanding and control of light-matter interaction has not only provided new insight into classical and quantum optical phenomena, but also has led to a myriad of exotic optoelectronic devices. Significant advances in understanding have been the recognition that the environment of a light emitter is intimately connected with the emitter’s radiative dynamics and that in certain situations the coupling between light and matter can be so strong as to engender the coupled systems with new modes of excitation. In the former case, the local density of optical states determines the radiative decay rate of an emitter and sculpting this quantity directly impacts photon emission. This is the Purcell effect and is sometimes referred to as the weak-coupling regime. In the latter case, the strongly coupled light-matter states coherently hybridize into what are called polaritons. Depending on the state of the radiation field and the details of the matter mode(s), such strongly coupled systems can exhibit either interesting quantum or classical optical phenomena.
In Ultra Hybrid Plasmonics: Strong Coupling of Plexcitons with Plasmon Polaritons by Balci and Kocabas, the authors demonstrate strong coupling between three distinct systems in the classical regime. In their work silver nanoparticles support localized plasmon resonances that can be strongly coupled with localized excitons in molecular J-aggregates. This hybridization results in the formation of coherently mixed plasmons and J-aggregate excitons. The authors denote these new excitations as plexcitons. The truly novel aspect of this work is that the authors are further able to strongly couple the plexcitons with propagating surface plasmon modes of an air-silver interface. The hybridization of the localized plexcitons with the propagating plasmons results in a new excitation that the authors call a plexcimon. The plexcimons exhibit an interesting dispersion relation that is reminiscent of a coupled resonator optical waveguide (CROW). The dispersion is tunable by the exact details and geometry of the fabricated device. The authors systemically characterize these new plexcimon resonances and determine the resultant dispersion relation.
Looking forward, the understanding afforded by this work has presented a pathway for potentially novel optical technology in both the domains of classical and quantum optics. The newly demonstrated CROW-like waveguide modes have interesting and designable dispersion properties. For example, spectral windows that exhibit nearly flat dispersion result in group velocities that can be significantly less than the free-space speed of light. These slow light modes can not only enhance the efficiency of nonlinear optical processes, but also can appreciably reduce the radiative lifetime of a light emitter placed in the vicinity of these hybrid resonances. Additionally, slow light modes can form the basis for integrated on-chip spectrometers. It is clear there is many exciting future directions that will leverage these newly discovered plexcimon states.
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In Ultra Hybrid Plasmonics: Strong Coupling of Plexcitons with Plasmon Polaritons by Balci and Kocabas, the authors demonstrate strong coupling between three distinct systems in the classical regime. In their work silver nanoparticles support localized plasmon resonances that can be strongly coupled with localized excitons in molecular J-aggregates. This hybridization results in the formation of coherently mixed plasmons and J-aggregate excitons. The authors denote these new excitations as plexcitons. The truly novel aspect of this work is that the authors are further able to strongly couple the plexcitons with propagating surface plasmon modes of an air-silver interface. The hybridization of the localized plexcitons with the propagating plasmons results in a new excitation that the authors call a plexcimon. The plexcimons exhibit an interesting dispersion relation that is reminiscent of a coupled resonator optical waveguide (CROW). The dispersion is tunable by the exact details and geometry of the fabricated device. The authors systemically characterize these new plexcimon resonances and determine the resultant dispersion relation.
Looking forward, the understanding afforded by this work has presented a pathway for potentially novel optical technology in both the domains of classical and quantum optics. The newly demonstrated CROW-like waveguide modes have interesting and designable dispersion properties. For example, spectral windows that exhibit nearly flat dispersion result in group velocities that can be significantly less than the free-space speed of light. These slow light modes can not only enhance the efficiency of nonlinear optical processes, but also can appreciably reduce the radiative lifetime of a light emitter placed in the vicinity of these hybrid resonances. Additionally, slow light modes can form the basis for integrated on-chip spectrometers. It is clear there is many exciting future directions that will leverage these newly discovered plexcimon states.
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Article Information
Ultra hybrid plasmonics: strong coupling of plexcitons with plasmon polaritons
Sinan Balci and Coskun Kocabas
Opt. Lett. 40(14) 3424-3427 (2015) View: Abstract | HTML | PDF