Spontaneous emission in anisotropic dielectrics

Messinger, Anette; Westerberg, Niclas; Barnett, Stephen M.

doi:10.1103/physreva.102.013721

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 47 publications

(56 reference statements)

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“…The Au counter electrode also functions as an integrated plasmonic strip waveguide for the SPPs. Theoretically, we treat IET across hBN analogous to a quantum emitter embedded in an anisotropic medium [45][46][47] where the LDOS is strongly affected by the local dielectric environment 20,[28][29][30] . Importantly, in contrast to the typical MIM-TJ configurations, replacement of one of the metal electrodes with an optically transparent Gr electrode makes the Au//hBN//Gr junction an open plasmonic system where the IET excitation of the photonic and SPP continuum is direct, without an intermediate MIM-SPP mode excitation [33][34][35] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optical Anisotropy in van der Waals materials: Impact on Direct Excitation of Plasmons and Photons by Quantum Tunneling

et al. 2021

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Inelastic quantum mechanical tunneling of electrons across plasmonic tunnel junctions can lead to surface plasmon polariton (SPP) and photon emission. So far, the optical properties of such junctions have been controlled by changing the shape, or the type of the material, of the electrodes, primarily with the aim to improve SPP or photon emission efficiencies. Here we show that by tuning the tunneling barrier itself, the efficiency of the inelastic tunneling rates can be improved by a factor of 3. We exploit the anisotropic nature of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) as the tunneling barrier material in Au//hBN//graphene tunnel junctions where the Au electrode also serves as a plasmonic strip waveguide. As this junction constitutes an optically transparent hBN–graphene heterostructure on a glass substrate, it forms an open plasmonic system where the SPPs are directly coupled to the dedicated strip waveguide and photons outcouple to the far field. We experimentally and analytically show that the photon emission rate per tunneling electron is significantly improved (~ ×3) in Au//hBN//graphene tunnel junction due to the enhancement in the local density of optical states (LDOS) arising from the hBN anisotropy. With the dedicated strip waveguide, SPP outcoupling efficiency is quantified and is found to be ∼ 80% stronger than the radiative outcoupling in Au//hBN//graphene due to the high LDOS of the SPP decay channel associated with the inelastic tunneling. The new insights elucidated here deepen our understanding of plasmonic tunnel junctions beyond the isotropic models with enhanced LDOS.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optical Anisotropy in van der Waals materials: Impact on Direct Excitation of Plasmons and Photons by Quantum Tunneling

et al. 2021

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“…As is well-known [1,2], naturally occurring optical media with a significant magnetic response are very rare. However, with the advent of metamaterials where a magnetic response can be engineered [11,12], this is becoming increasingly important, often arising in conjunction with anisotropic dielectric responses [13,14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Duality, decay rates, and local-field models in macroscopic QED

2022

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Any treatment of magnetic interactions between atoms, molecules and optical media must start at the form of the interaction energy. This forms the base on which predictions about any number of magnetic atom-light properties stands -spontaneous decay rates and forces included. As is well-known, the Heaviside-Larmor duality symmetry of Maxwell's equations, where electric and magnetic quantities are exchanged, is broken by the usual form of the magnetic interaction energy. We argue that this symmetry can be restored by including general local-field effects, and that local fields should be treated as a necessity for correctly translating between the microscopic world of the dipole and the macroscopic world of the measured fields. This may additionally aid in resolving a long standing debate over the form of the force on a dipole in a medium. Finally, we compute the magnetic dipole decay rate in a magneto-dielectric with local-field effects taken into account, and show that macroscopic quantum electrodynamics can be made to be dual symmetric at an operator level, instead of only for expectation values.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Duality, decay rates and local-field models in macroscopic QED

Westerberg,

Messinger,

Barnett

2021

Preprint

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View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Any treatment of magnetic interactions between atoms, molecules and optical media must start at the form of the interaction energy. This forms the base on which predictions about any number of magnetic atom-light properties stands -spontaneous decay rates and forces included. As is well-known, the Heaviside-Larmor duality symmetry of Maxwell's equations, where electric and magnetic quantities are exchanges, is broken by the usual form of the magnetic interaction energy. We argue that this symmetry can be restored by including general local-field effects, and that local fields should be treated as a necessity for correctly translating between the microscopic world of the dipole and the macroscopic world of the measured fields. This may additionally aid in resolving a long standing debate over the form of the force on a dipole in a medium. Finally, we compute the magnetic dipole decay rate in a magneto-dielectric with local-field effects taken into account, and show that macroscopic quantum electrodynamics can be made to be dual symmetric at an operator level, instead of only for expectation values.

show abstract

Spontaneous emission in anisotropic dielectrics

Cited by 9 publications

References 47 publications

Optical Anisotropy in van der Waals materials: Impact on Direct Excitation of Plasmons and Photons by Quantum Tunneling

Optical Anisotropy in van der Waals materials: Impact on Direct Excitation of Plasmons and Photons by Quantum Tunneling

Duality, decay rates, and local-field models in macroscopic QED

Duality, decay rates and local-field models in macroscopic QED

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