Topological Spin Phases of Trapped Rydberg Excitons in Cu_{2}O.

We theoretically study Rydberg excitons in one-dimensional chains of traps in Cu_{2}O coupled via the van der Waals interaction. The triplet of optically active p-shell states acts as an effective spin 1, and the interactions between the excitons are strongly spin dependent. We predict that the system has the topological Haldane phase with the diluted antiferromagnetic order, long-range string correlations, and finite excitation gap. We also analyze the effect of the trap geometry and interactions anisotropy on the Rydberg exciton spin states and demonstrate that a rich spin phase diagram can be realized showing high tunability of the Rydberg exciton platform.

Nonlinear Control of Electromagnetic Topological Edge States.

Topological photonics has emerged recently as a smart approach for realizing robust optical circuitry, and the study of nonlinear effects is expected to open the door for tunability of photonic topological states. Here we realize experimentally nonlinearity-induced spectral tuning of electromagnetic topological edge states in arrays of coupled nonlinear resonators in the pump-probe regime. When nonlinearity is weak, we observe that the frequencies of the resonators exhibit spectral shifts concentrated mainly at the edge mode and affecting only weakly the bulk modes. For a strong pumping, we describe several scenarios of the transformation of the edge states and their hybridization with bulk modes, and also predict a parametrically driven transition from topological stationary to unstable dynamic regimes.

Nanoscale Generation of White Light for Ultrabroadband Nanospectroscopy.

Achieving efficient localization of white light at the nanoscale is a major challenge due to the diffraction limit, and nanoscale emitters generating light with a broadband spectrum require complicated engineering. Here we suggest a simple, yet highly efficient, nanoscale white-light source based on a hybrid Si/Au nanoparticle with ultrabroadband (1.3-3.4 eV) spectral characteristics. We incorporate this novel source into a scanning-probe microscope and observe broadband spectrum of photoluminescence that allows fast mapping of local optical response of advanced nanophotonic structures with submicron resolution, thus realizing ultrabroadband near-field nanospectroscopy.

Phonoritonic Crystals with a Synthetic Magnetic Field for an Acoustic Diode.

We develop a rigorous theoretical framework to describe light-sound interaction in the laser-pumped periodic multiple-quantum-well structure accounting for hybrid phonon-polariton excitations, termed phonoritons. We show that phonoritons exhibit the pumping-induced synthetic magnetic field in the artificial "coordinate-energy" space that makes transmission of left- and right- going waves different. The sound transmission nonreciprocity allows one to use such phonoritonic crystals with realistic parameters as optically controlled nanoscale acoustic diodes.

Multiple Quantum Wells for PT-Symmetric Phononic Crystals.

We demonstrate that the parity-time symmetry for sound is realized in laser-pumped multiple-quantum-well structures. Breaking of the parity-time symmetry for the phonons with wave vectors corresponding to the Bragg condition makes the structure a highly selective acoustic wave amplifier. Single-mode distributed feedback phonon lasing is predicted for structures with realistic parameters.

Control of Förster energy transfer in the vicinity of metallic surfaces and hyperbolic metamaterials.

Optical cavities, plasmonic structures, photonic band crystals and interfaces, as well as, generally speaking, any photonic media with homogeneous or spatially inhomogeneous dielectric permittivity (including metamaterials) have local densities of photonic states, which are different from that in vacuum. These modified density of states environments are known to control both the rate and the angular distribution of spontaneous emission. In the present study, we question whether the proximity to metallic and metamaterial surfaces can affect other physical phenomena of fundamental and practical importance. We show that the same substrates and the same nonlocal dielectric environments that boost spontaneous emission, also inhibit Förster energy transfer between donor and acceptor molecules doped into a thin polymeric film. This finding correlates with the fact that in dielectric media, the rate of spontaneous emission is proportional to the index of refraction n, while the rate of the donor-acceptor energy transfer (in solid solutions with a random distribution of acceptors) is proportional to n(-1.5). This heuristic correspondence suggests that other classical and quantum phenomena, which in regular dielectric media depend on n, can also be controlled with custom-tailored metamaterials, plasmonic structures, and cavities.

Polariton Resonances for Ultrastrong Coupling Cavity Optomechanics in GaAs/AlAs Multiple Quantum Wells.

Polariton-mediated light-sound interaction is investigated through resonant Brillouin scattering experiments in GaAs/AlAs multiple-quantum wells. Photoelastic coupling enhancement at exciton-polariton resonance reaches 10(5) at 30 K as compared to a typical bulk solid room temperature transparency value. When applied to GaAs based cavity optomechanical nanodevices, this result opens the path to huge displacement sensitivities and to ultrastrong coupling regimes in cavity optomechanics with couplings g(0) in the range of 100 GHz.

Radiative topological states in resonant photonic crystals.

We present a theory of topological edge states in one-dimensional resonant photonic crystals with a compound unit cell. Contrary to the conventional electronic topological states, the modes under consideration are radiative; i.e., they decay in time due to the light escape through the structure boundaries. We demonstrate that the edge states survive despite their radiative decay and can be detected both in time- and frequency-dependent light reflection.

One dimensional resonant Fibonacci quasicrystals: noncanonical linear and canonical nonlinear effects.

A detailed experimental and theoretical study of the linear and nonlinear optical properties of different Fibonacci-spaced multiple-quantum-well structures is presented. Systematic numerical studies are performed for different average spacing and geometrical arrangement of the quantum wells. Measurements of the linear and nonlinear (carrier density dependent) reflectivity are shown to be in good agreement with the computational results. As the pump pulse energy increases, the excitation-induced dephasing broadens the exciton resonances resulting in a disappearance of sharp features and reduction in peak reflectivity.

Attempts to grow optically coupled Fibonacci-spaced InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells result in surface gratings.

An instability in the growth of nonperiodic InGaAs/GaAs multiple quantum well samples, ordinarily of high-quality when grown with equal periods of order of half the wavelength of light in the material, leads to a dramatic microscopic, self-organized surface grating. This effect was discovered while growing quantum wells with two unequal barrier lengths arranged in a Fibonacci sequence to form an optical quasicrystal. A laser beam incident normal to the surface of the sample is diffracted into a propeller-shaped pattern. The sample surface has a distinctly cloudy appearance when viewed along one crystal axis but is mirror-like when the sample is rotated 90 degrees. The instability results in a five-fold increase in the absorption linewidth of the heavy-hole exciton transition. Atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy were used to study the samples.

Excitonic polaritons in Fibonacci quasicrystals.

The fabrication and characterization of light-emitting one-dimensional photonic quasicrystals based on excitonic resonances is reported. The structures consist of high-quality GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells grown by molecular-beam epitaxy with wavelength-scale spacings satisfying a Fibonacci sequence. The polaritonic (resonant light-matter coupling) effects and light emission originate from the quantum well excitonic resonances. Measured reflectivity spectra as a function of detuning between emission and Bragg wavelength are in good agreement with excitonic polariton theory. Photoluminescence experiments show that active photonic quasicrystals, unlike photonic crystals, can be good light emitters: While their long-range order results in a stopband similar to that of photonic crystals, the lack of periodicity results in strong emission.