Casimir light in dispersive nanophotonics

TL;DR

This paper develops a comprehensive theory for dynamical vacuum effects in dispersive nanophotonics, enabling enhanced quantum light generation and analysis of light-matter interactions in time-modulated, nanostructured media.

Contribution

It introduces a novel theoretical framework that incorporates dispersion and time modulation simultaneously in nanophotonic systems, facilitating efficient entangled polariton generation.

Findings

High-density states in hyperbolic media enable efficient entangled phonon-polariton pairs.

Proposed scheme for entangled surface polaritons via optical phonon frequency modulation.

Framework applicable to various quantum light-matter interactions in time-varying media.

Abstract

Time-varying optical media, whose dielectric properties are actively modulated in time, introduce a host of novel effects in the classical propagation of light, and are of intense current interest. In the quantum domain, time-dependent media can be used to convert vacuum fluctuations (virtual photons) into pairs of real photons. We refer to these processes broadly as ``dynamical vacuum effects'' (DVEs). Despite interest for their potential applications as sources of quantum light, DVEs are generally very weak, providing many opportunities for enhancement through modern techniques in nanophotonics, such as using media which support excitations such as plasmon and phonon polaritons. Here, we present a theory of DVEs in arbitrary nanostructured, dispersive, and dissipative systems. A key element of our framework is the simultaneous incorporation of time-modulation and ``dispersion'' through time-translation-breaking linear response theory. We propose a highly efficient scheme for generating entangled surface polaritons based on time-modulation of the optical phonon frequency of a polar insulator. We show that the high density of states, especially in hyperbolic polaritonic media, may enable high-efficiency generation of entangled phonon-polariton pairs. More broadly, our theoretical framework enables the study of quantum light-matter interactions in time-varying media, such as spontaneous emission, and energy level shifts.