Phonoritons in a monolayer hBN optical cavity

TL;DR

This paper predicts the emergence of phonoritons, hybrid excitations of excitons, phonons, and photons, in a monolayer hBN optical cavity, offering a new way to observe and tune these quasiparticles.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical prediction of phonoritons in monolayer hBN within an optical cavity, enabling experimental observation and control of these hybrid states.

Findings

Hybridization of exciton-polariton branches with phonon replicas.

Tunable phonoritonic features via cavity-matter coupling.

Provides an experimental pathway for phonoriton detection.

Abstract

A phonoriton is an elementary excitation that is predicted to emerge from hybridization between exciton, phonon and photon. Besides the intriguing many-particle structure, phonoritons are of interest as they could serve as functional nodes in devices that utilize electronic, phononic and photonic elements for energy conversion and thermal transport applications. Although phonoritons are predicted to emerge in an excitonic medium under intense electromagnetic wave irradiation, the stringent condition for their existence has eluded direct observation in solids. In particular, on-resonance, intense pumping scheme has been proposed but excessive photoexcitation of carriers prevents optical detection. Here we theoretically predict the appearance of phonoritonic features in monolayer hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) embedded in an optical cavity. The coherent superposition nature of phonoriton states is evidenced by the hybridization of exciton-polariton branches with phonon replicas that is tunable by the cavity-matter coupling strength. This finding simultaneously provides an experimental pathway to observe the predicted phonoritons and opens a new avenue for tuning materials properties.