RESEARCH

Overview:

Research in the Laboratory for Nano and Micro Photonics (LaNMP) can be best summarized as exploration of light-matter interaction at the nanosale. We are interested in exploring emergent material properties (classical and quantum) that arise when matter is subjected to artificially engineered electromagnetic environments. The goal is to develop a largely unexplored strategy for controlling light and matter based on coherently combining material excitations with light. This goal is driven by the quest to understand the ultimate limits of controlling optical transitions, carrier transport, energy harvesting, nonlinear optical response, and quantum effects. We anticipate these fundamental questions to lead to applications in diverse areas such as quantum and classical simulation, photovoltaics, ultrafast light emitters, and low energy computation.

This theme of “light engineered matter”  is implemented through three main thrust areas:

Thrust 1: Programmable quantum matter based on half-light-half-matter quasiparticles [Moore, DOD, NSF]

Thrust 2: Cavity quantum materials [DOE, Keck, DARPA]

Thrust 3: Artificial electromagnetic media for engineering dielectric properties, light emitters and engineering forbidden optical transitions [DOD, NSF, Industry]

Some of the key results from the group include the discovery of magnon mediated exciton interaction in 2D magnets (ArXiv 2024 – under review), the demonstration of optically dressed magneto-excitons in a van der Waals magnet (Nature 2023), the realization of spin correlated exciton-polaritons in an antiferromagnetic insulator (Nature Nanotech. 2022), demonstration of highly nonlinear dipolar exciton-polaritons for quantum nonlinearity (Nature Comm. 2022), the demonstration of strain engineering (Science Advances 2021), use of Rydberg exciton polaritons to enhance nonlinear response in solid state systems (Nature Comm. 2021), controlling photo-isomerization in molecules via strong coupling (Science Advances, 2021), a polariton LED (Nature Nanotech. 2019), deterministic activation of single photon emitters via strain engineering in 2D materials (Optica 2018), optical control of strongly coupled microcavity polaritons with valley degree of freedom (Nature Photonics 2017), new class of artificial photonic media: photonic hypercrystals (PNAS 2017, Nano Lett. 2016), strong light-matter interaction between 2D materials and cavity photons (Nature Photonics 2015), active hyperbolic metamaterials (Optica 2015), organic-inorganic hybrid materials via strong light-matter coupling (Physical Review Letters 2014), control of light-matter interaction by engineering the topology of dispersion (Science 2012), and direct visualization of transport of excitons in organic materials (Nature Comm. 2014).

The group consists of post-doctoral researchers, doctoral students, undergraduate and high school students. Alumni from the group have gone to positions in national labs, tenure track faculty positions and post-doctoral positions at internationally renowned institutions. We are always looking for motivated students and post-docs to join us. If you are interested in joining us, do contact Prof. Menon.