Theory of Rabi interaction between an infrared-active phonon and cavity-resonant modes

TL;DR

This paper develops a theoretical framework describing the interaction between infrared-active phonons in semiconductors and cavity electromagnetic modes, predicting strong coupling and Rabi oscillations in the terahertz range.

Contribution

It introduces a new theory for phonon-cavity interactions, highlighting the potential for strong coupling and direct time-domain measurement of Rabi oscillations.

Findings

Potential to reach strong coupling regime.

Prediction of Rabi oscillations in terahertz frequencies.

Feasibility of femtosecond pulse measurements.

Abstract

We present the theory of interaction between a polar vibration in a semiconductor and an electromagnetic mode of a surrounding cavity. Tuning the cavity frequency near the transverse optical phonon frequency couples the phonon-induced polarization field within the dielectric and the electromagnetic field in the cavity. Depending on engineering parameters, we predict that this cavity quantum electrodynamic interaction may reach the strong coupling regime. The resonances of the system are in the terahertz spectral region, and while spectroscopic measurements are a possible route for the detection of such a system, we emphasize the possibility of measuring the Rabi oscillation directly in the time domain with femtosecond optical pulses.