| Project Detail |
Light-matter interactions are highly limited by strict fundamental rules. The commonly used dipole approximation enforces selection rules that prohibit many electronic transitions due to the mismatch between the wavelength of light and the scale of its emitter (e.g., atom, molecule, quantum dot). This mismatch even prevents access to many other light-matter interactions such as spin-flip transitions and multiphoton spontaneous emission.
In the past four years, I have shown theoretically and experimentally how extreme confinement of light enables transitions that are otherwise forbidden. For example, transforming an unobservable multiphoton emission to be the dominant transition. The key to accessing such transitions is using nano-confined 2D plasmons or phonon-polaritons.
I propose to go beyond my recent work and to study conventionally-forbidden light-matter interactions of free electrons, which have never been explored before. I will do this by utilizing polaritons in nanophotonic structures and in settings of 2D materials. Using both theory and experiments with an ultrafast transmission electron microscope (UEM), my group will develop and observe novel concepts of light emission such as double spontaneous emission of a polariton paired with a high energy photon. We will attempt to realize ultrastrong electron-polariton coupling in new systems, pushing the classical and quantum boundaries of electron-photon energy conversion that limit the efficiency of a wide range of processes.
This project will challenge limits in electron-polariton interactions to enable novel polariton phenomena in nanostructures and settings of 2D materials. |
