Nonequilibrium Polaritonics - Nonlinear Effects and Optical Switching

TL;DR

This paper presents a theoretical study of nonequilibrium polaritonics, proposing ultrafast all-optical switching based on nonlinear effects in gold nano grains coupled to photonic waveguides, driven by external laser light.

Contribution

It introduces a novel non-equilibrium theoretical framework for polaritonics and demonstrates potential for ultrafast optical switching using nonlinear polaritonic effects.

Findings

Strong transmission reduction due to quantum interference

Modification of gold nano grain band structure by laser light

Potential for ultrafast all-optical switching

Abstract

We report a theoretical non-equilibrium description of polaritonics and we propose ultrafast all- optical switching due to highly nonlinear polaritonics. The electronic band structure within gold (Au) nano grains is modified by external laser light. The Au grains are coupled to a single mode photonic waveguide and we derive a strong transmission reduction of switching originating from the establishd quantum interference with a finite lifetime.