Quantum Quasinormal Mode Theory for Dissipative Nano-Optics and Magnetodielectric Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics

TL;DR

This paper develops a comprehensive quantum theory for dissipative nano-optical resonators using quasinormal modes, enabling accurate modeling of quantum electrodynamics in complex, lossy, and dispersive nanostructures.

Contribution

It introduces a unified framework based on macroscopic QED and complex coordinate transformations for quantizing quasinormal modes in arbitrary linear media.

Findings

Enables construction of modal Fock states for dissipative resonators.

Addresses modal loss intricacies in quantum nano-optics.

Facilitates exploration of room-temperature quantum nanophotonics.

Abstract

The unprecedented pace of evolution in nanoscale architectures for cavity quantum electrodynamics (cQED) has posed crucial challenges for theory, where the quantum dynamics arising from the non-perturbative dressing of matter by cavity electric and magnetic fields, as well as the fundamentally non-hermitian character of the system are to be treated without significant approximation. The lossy electromagnetic resonances of photonic, plasmonic or magnonic nanostructures are described as quasinormal modes (QNMs), whose properties and interactions with quantum emitters and spin qubits are central to the understanding of dissipative nano-optics and magnetodielectric cQED. Despite recent advancements toward a fully quantum framework for QNMs, a general and universally accepted approach to QNM quantization for arbitrary linear media remains elusive. In this work, we introduce a unified theoretical framework, based on macroscopic QED and complex coordinate transformations, that achieves QNM quantization for a wide class of spatially inhomogeneous, dissipative (with possible gain components) and dispersive, linear, magnetodielectric resonators. The complex coordinate transformations equivalently convert the radiative losses into non-radiative material dissipation, and via a suitable transformation that reflects all the losses of the resonator, we define creation and annihilation operators that allow the construction of modal Fock states for the joint excitations of field-dressed matter. By directly addressing the intricacies of modal loss in a fully quantum theory of magnetodielectric cQED, our approach enables the exploration of modern, quantum nano-optical experiments utilizing dielectric, plasmonic, magnetic or hybrid cQED architectures, and paves the way towards a rigorous assessment of room-temperature quantum nanophotonic technologies without recourse to ad hoc quantization schemes.