Search

Micro-/nanocavities that combine high quality factor (Q) and small mode volume (V) have been used to enhance light–matter interactions for cavity quantum electrodynamics (cQED). Whispering gallery mode (WGM) geometries such as microdisks and microrings support high-Q and are design- and fabrication-friendly, but V is often limited to tens of cubic wavelengths to avoid WGM radiation. The stronger modal confinement provided by either one-dimensional or two-dimensional photonic crystal defect geometries can yield sub-cubic-wavelength V, yet the requirements on precise design and dimensional control are typically much more stringent to ensure high-Q. Given their complementary features, there has been sustained interest in geometries that combine the advantages of WGM and photonic crystal cavities. Recently, a "microgear" photonic crystal ring (MPhCR) has shown promise in enabling additional defect localization (> 10× reduction of V) of a WGM, while maintaining high-Q (≈ 1 0 6 ) and other WGM characteristics in ease of coupling and design. However, the unit cell geometry used is unlike traditional PhC cavities, and etched surfaces may be too close to embedded quantum nodes (quantum dots, atomic defect spins, etc.) for cQED applications. Here, we report two novel PhCR designs with "rod" and "slit" unit cells, whose geometries are more traditional and suitable for solid-state cQED. Both rod and slit PhCRs have high-Q (> 1 0 6 ) with WGM coupling properties preserved. A further ≈10× reduction of V by defect localization is observed in rod PhCRs. Moreover, both fundamental and 2nd-order PhC modes co-exist in slit PhCRs with high Qs and good coupling. Our work showcases that high-Q/V PhCRs are in general straightforward to design and fabricate and are a promising platform to explore for cQED. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The anisotropy of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) gives rise to hyperbolic phonon-polaritons (HPhPs), notable for their volumetric frequency-dependent propagation and strong confinement. For frustum (truncated nanocone) structures, theory predicts five, high-order HPhPs, sets, but only one set was observed previously with far-field reflectance and scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy. In contrast, the photothermal induced resonance (PTIR) technique has recently permitted sampling of the full HPhP dispersion and observing such elusive predicted modes; however, the mechanism underlying PTIR sensitivity to these weakly-scattering modes, while critical to their understanding, has not yet been clarified. Here, by comparing conventional contact- and newly developed tapping-mode PTIR, we show that the PTIR sensitivity to those weakly-scattering, high-Q (up to ≈280) modes is, contrary to a previous hypothesis, unrelated to the probe operation (contact or tapping) and is instead linked to PTIR ability to detect tip-launched dark, volumetrically-confined polaritons, rather than nanostructure-launched HPhPs modes observed by other techniques. Furthermore, we show that in contrast with plasmons and surface phonon-polaritons, whose Q-factors and optical cross-sections are typically degraded by the proximity of other nanostructures, the high-Q HPhP resonances are preserved even in high-density hBN frustum arrays, which is useful in sensing and quantum emission applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]