Constructing “Designer Atoms” via Resonant Graphene-Induced Lamb Shifts
The properties of an electron in an atom or molecule are not fixed; rather they are a function of the optical environment of the emitter. Not only is the spontaneous emission a function of the optical environment, but also the underlying wave functions and energy levels, which are modified by the po...
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| Format: | Article |
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American Chemical Society (ACS)
2019
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/120566 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7244-3682 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7184-5831 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2691-1892 |
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| author | Chang, Cyuan-Han Rivera, Nicholas H. Joannopoulos, John Soljacic, Marin Kaminer, Ido Efraim |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics Chang, Cyuan-Han Rivera, Nicholas H. Joannopoulos, John Soljacic, Marin Kaminer, Ido Efraim |
| author_sort | Chang, Cyuan-Han |
| collection | MIT |
| description | The properties of an electron in an atom or molecule are not fixed; rather they are a function of the optical environment of the emitter. Not only is the spontaneous emission a function of the optical environment, but also the underlying wave functions and energy levels, which are modified by the potential induced by quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field. In free space, this modification of atomic levels and wave functions is very weak and generally hard to observe due to the prevalence of other perturbations like fine structure. Here, we explore the possibility of highly tailorable electronic structure by exploiting large Lamb shifts in tunable electromagnetic environments such as graphene, whose optical properties are dynamically controlled via doping. The Fermi energy can be chosen so that the Lamb shift is very weak, but it can also be chosen so that the shifts become more prominent than the fine structure of the atom and even potentially the Coulomb interaction with the nucleus. Potential implications of this idea include being able to electronically shift an unfavorable emitter structure into a favorable one, a new approach to probe near-field physics in fluorescence, and a way to access regimes of physics where vacuum fluctuations are not a weak perturbation but rather the dominant physics. Keywords: graphene plasmonics; Lamb shift; light-matter interactions; quantum electrodynamics |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:34:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/120566 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:34:40Z |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publisher | American Chemical Society (ACS) |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1205662022-09-28T08:44:25Z Constructing “Designer Atoms” via Resonant Graphene-Induced Lamb Shifts Chang, Cyuan-Han Rivera, Nicholas H. Joannopoulos, John Soljacic, Marin Kaminer, Ido Efraim Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics Chang, Cyuan-Han Rivera, Nicholas H. Joannopoulos, John Soljacic, Marin Kaminer, Ido Efraim The properties of an electron in an atom or molecule are not fixed; rather they are a function of the optical environment of the emitter. Not only is the spontaneous emission a function of the optical environment, but also the underlying wave functions and energy levels, which are modified by the potential induced by quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field. In free space, this modification of atomic levels and wave functions is very weak and generally hard to observe due to the prevalence of other perturbations like fine structure. Here, we explore the possibility of highly tailorable electronic structure by exploiting large Lamb shifts in tunable electromagnetic environments such as graphene, whose optical properties are dynamically controlled via doping. The Fermi energy can be chosen so that the Lamb shift is very weak, but it can also be chosen so that the shifts become more prominent than the fine structure of the atom and even potentially the Coulomb interaction with the nucleus. Potential implications of this idea include being able to electronically shift an unfavorable emitter structure into a favorable one, a new approach to probe near-field physics in fluorescence, and a way to access regimes of physics where vacuum fluctuations are not a weak perturbation but rather the dominant physics. Keywords: graphene plasmonics; Lamb shift; light-matter interactions; quantum electrodynamics United States. Army Research Office (Grant W911NF-13-D-0001) United States. Department of Energy (Award DE-FG02-97ER25308) 2019-02-27T16:53:53Z 2019-02-27T16:53:53Z 2017-12 2017-07 2019-02-05T13:13:09Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 2330-4022 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/120566 Chang, Cyuan-Han et al. “Constructing ‘Designer Atoms’ via Resonant Graphene-Induced Lamb Shifts.” ACS Photonics 4, 12 (October 2017): 3098–3105 © 2017 American Chemical Society https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7244-3682 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7184-5831 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2691-1892 http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ACSPHOTONICS.7B00731 ACS Photonics Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Chemical Society (ACS) MIT web domain |
| spellingShingle | Chang, Cyuan-Han Rivera, Nicholas H. Joannopoulos, John Soljacic, Marin Kaminer, Ido Efraim Constructing “Designer Atoms” via Resonant Graphene-Induced Lamb Shifts |
| title | Constructing “Designer Atoms” via Resonant Graphene-Induced Lamb Shifts |
| title_full | Constructing “Designer Atoms” via Resonant Graphene-Induced Lamb Shifts |
| title_fullStr | Constructing “Designer Atoms” via Resonant Graphene-Induced Lamb Shifts |
| title_full_unstemmed | Constructing “Designer Atoms” via Resonant Graphene-Induced Lamb Shifts |
| title_short | Constructing “Designer Atoms” via Resonant Graphene-Induced Lamb Shifts |
| title_sort | constructing designer atoms via resonant graphene induced lamb shifts |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/120566 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7244-3682 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7184-5831 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2691-1892 |
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