Tuning Fermi Liquids with polaritonic Cavities

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that cavity polariton modes can modify the Fermi liquid parameters of a two-dimensional metal, with observable effects on magneto-transport phenomena like Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations, especially in graphene within hyperbolic cavities.

Contribution

It shows that passive sub-wavelength cavities can intrinsically alter quantum material properties, specifically Fermi liquid parameters, through cavity polariton modes, a novel mechanism not related to disorder.

Findings

Cavity polariton modes modify Fermi liquid parameters.

Changes can be observed via magneto-transport measurements.

Largest effects occur when phonon polaritons match graphene plasmons in the Terahertz range.

Abstract

The question of whether or not passive sub-wavelength cavities can alter the properties of quantum materials is currently attracting a great deal of attention. In this Article we show that the Fermi liquid parameters of a two-dimensional metal are modified by cavity polariton modes, and that these changes can be monitored by measuring a paradigmatic magneto-transport phenomenon, Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations in a weak perpendicular magnetic field. This effect is intrinsic, and totally unrelated to disorder. As an illustrative example, we carry out explicit calculations of the quasiparticle velocity of graphene in a planar van der Waals cavity formed by natural hyperbolic crystals and metal gates. The largest effects of the cavity occur when the phonon polariton modes of the former match energetically the graphene plasmon. For typical graphene carrier densities this occurs in the Terahertz spectral range.