Paper 13110-24
Quantum optical phenomena in two-dimensional materials (Keynote Presentation)
19 August 2024 • 1:05 PM - 1:45 PM PDT | Conv. Ctr. Room 3
Abstract
Atomically thin materials offer a robust platform for nanoscale light manipulation, featuring a diversity of polaritonic behavior in the form of plasmons in metals, excitons in transition metal dichalcogenides, and phonons in ionic insulators. In this context, we will present recent advances in ultrathin crystalline noble-metal films as promising plasmonic platforms for active nanophotonics. We discuss their optical response characteristics using models ranging from simple phenomenological approaches to a full quantum-mechanical treatment. In addition, we discuss the in/out coupling problem between external light and strongly confined polaritons, which remains a major challenge, and for which we propose innovative solutions based on critical coupling between dipolar scatterers and planar interfaces. We further discuss a disruptive approach to the design of polaritonic materials relying on quantum phase effects, as well as a new mechanism of electron-positron pair production based on the scattering between gamma-rays and surface polaritons.
Presenter
ICFO - Institut de Ciències Fotòniques (Spain)
Javier García de Abajo received his PhD from the University of the Basque Country (1993) and then visited Berkeley National Lab for three years. He was a Research Professor at the Spanish CSIC and in 2013 moved to ICFO-Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques (Barcelona) as an ICREA Research Professor and Group Leader. He is a Fellow of both the American Physical Society and the Optical Society of America. García de Abajo has co-authored 400+ articles cited 60,000+ times with an h index of 117 (Jan. 2024 Google Scholar data), including contributions on different aspects of surface science, nanophotonics, and electron microscope spectroscopies.