OP: Nonlinear Optical Properties of Organic Cavity Polaritons

非技术描述：光与能够吸收和发射光的物质的相互作用是具有根本和长期的科学和技术兴趣的。这种相互作用可以通过使用由两个镜子组成的微型光学腔来增强，其中光在穿过吸收介质时反复来回反射。这种结构构成了激光器的基础。通常用于制造激光器的有机染料，当放置在超小的光学腔中时，表现出特别增强的行为，通常表现为异常大的颜色变化。该项目解决了小于光波长的光学腔中的非线性光学效应，其中上述增强特别强。光学腔与特殊光学材料耦合，表现出这些异常强的相互作用，可以动态控制，并因此，这些系统的光学性能。本项目研究的现象在光学信息处理和通信以及全息显示等技术中具有潜在的应用前景。参与该项目的研究生和本科生也参与了俄亥俄州东北部城市内代表性不足群体的学生的指导和推广项目。技术描述：最近在室温下观察到含有有机染料和半导体的微腔中光子和激子之间的超强耦合。这种异常强的相互作用与相同材料的鲁棒非线性光学响应相吻合。这为光子学提供了一种新的、有前途的混合材料。本项目探讨了有机材料作为活性元素在纳米级低q光学腔中在强和超强光子激子耦合腔极化子下的非线性光学特性。在这种情况下，量子腔电动力学物理描述了复合结构的光谱色散的显著变化。对交流斯塔克效应的贡献是研究的重点，这意味着特别关注非线性光相互作用的光谱响应和通过改变腔共振（例如，通过角度调谐）来操纵光谱。研究人员从实验和理论上研究了有机玻璃形成非线性光学材料，并将其纳入低q的金属镜腔中，以确定其对光学克尔效应、三次谐波产生和光折射的非线性光学响应。

Nontechnical description: The interaction of light with matter capable of light absorption and emission is of fundamental and long-standing scientific and technological interest. This interaction can be enhanced by using miniature optical cavities made of two mirrors, in which light repeatedly bounces back and forth while traversing the absorbing medium. This structure forms the basis of the laser. Organic dyes, commonly used for making lasers, exhibit particularly enhanced behavior when placed in ultrasmall optical cavities, often exemplified by unusually large color changes. This project addresses nonlinear optical effects in optical cavities smaller than the wavelength of light, in which the aforementioned enhancements are particularly strong. The optical cavities coupled with the special optical materials exhibiting these exceptionally strong interactions can be dynamically controlled, and, as a result, the optical performance of these systems. The phenomena addressed in this project have potential applications in optical information processing and communications, and in such technologies as holographic displays. The graduate and undergraduate students involved in this project are also involved in mentoring and outreach programs for students from underrepresented groups in the inner cities in northeast Ohio.Technical description: Ultrastrong coupling between photons and excitons in microcavities containing organic dyes and semiconductors has been recently observed at room temperature. The unusually strong interactions dovetail with the robust nonlinear optical responses of the same materials. This provides a new and promising hybrid material for photonics. This project explores the nonlinear optical properties of organic materials as active elements in nanoscale low-Q optical cavities in the regime of strong and ultrastrong photon-exciton coupling of cavity polaritons. In this regime, the physics of quantum cavity electrodynamics describes significant changes in the spectral dispersion of the composite structure. Contributions to the AC Stark effect is the focus of studies implying particular attention to spectral response of the nonlinear optical interaction and manipulation of the spectrum by varying the cavity resonance, for example, by angle tuning. Well-studied organic glass forming nonlinear optical materials incorporated into metal mirror cavities of low-Q are being investigated, experimentally and theoretically, in a number of cavity configurations to determine their nonlinear optical response for the optical Kerr effect, third harmonic generation and photorefraction.