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Nonlinear interactions between single quantum particles are at the heart of any quantum information system, including analog quantum simulation and fault-tolerant quantum computing. This remains a particularly difficult problem for photonic qubits, as photons do not interact with each other. While engineering light-matter interaction can effectively create photon-photon interaction, the required photon number to observe any nonlinearity is very high, where any quantum mechanical signature disappears. However, with emerging low-dimensional materials, and engineered photonic resonators, the photon number can be potentially reduced to reach the quantum nonlinear optical regime. In this review paper, we discuss different mechanisms exploited in solid-state platforms to attain quantum nonlinear optics. We review emerging materials and optical resonator architecture with different dimensionalities. We also present new research directions and open problems in this field.

Moir\'e superlattice of twisted hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) has emerged as an advanced atomically thin van der Waals interfacial ferroelectricity platform. Nanoscale periodic ferroelectric moir\'e domains with out-of-plane potentials in twisted hBN allow the hosting of remote Coulomb superlattice potentials to adjacent two-dimensional materials for tailoring strongly correlated properties. Therefore, the new strategies for engineering moir\'e length, angle, and potential strength are essential for developing programmable quantum materials and advanced twistronics applications devices. Here, we demonstrate the realization of twisted hBN-based moir\'e superlattice platforms and visualize the moir\'e domains and ferroelectric properties using Kelvin probe force microscopy. Also, we report the KPFM result of regular moir\'e superlattice in the large area. It offers the possibility to reproduce uniform moir\'e structures with precise control piezo stage stacking and heat annealing. We demonstrate the high tunability of twisted hBN moir\'e platforms and achieve cumulative multi-ferroelectric polarization and multi-level domains with multiple angle mismatched interfaces. Additionally, we observe the quasi-1D anisotropic moir\'e domains and show the highest resolution analysis of the local built-in strain between adjacent hBN layers compared to the conventional methods. Furthermore, we demonstrate in-situ manipulation of moir\'e superlattice potential strength using femtosecond pulse laser irradiation, which results in the optical phonon-induced atomic displacement at the hBN moir\'e interfaces. Our results pave the way to develop precisely programmable moir\'e superlattice platforms and investigate strongly correlated physics in van der Waals heterostructures., Comment: 26 pages, 4 figures

Excitons are fundamental excitations that govern the optical properties of semiconductors. Interacting excitons can lead to various emergent phases of matter and large nonlinear optical responses. In most semiconductors, excitons interact via exchange interaction or phase space filling. Correlated materials that host excitons coupled to other degrees of freedom offer hitherto unexplored pathways for controlling these interactions. Here, we demonstrate magnon-mediated excitonic interactions in CrSBr, an antiferromagnetic semiconductor. This interaction manifests as the dependence of exciton energy on exciton density via a magnonic adjustment of the spin canting angle. Our study demonstrates the emergence of quasiparticle-mediated interactions in correlated quantum materials, leading to large nonlinear optical responses and potential device concepts such as magnon-mediated quantum transducers., Comment: 33 pages, 14 figures

Twisted hexagonal boron nitride (thBN) exhibits emergent ferroelectricity due to the formation of moir\'e superlattices with alternating AB and BA domains. These domains possess electric dipoles, leading to a periodic electrostatic potential that can be imprinted onto other 2D materials placed in its proximity. Here we demonstrate the remote imprinting of moir\'e patterns from twisted hexagonal boron nitride (thBN) onto monolayer MoSe2 and investigate the resulting changes in the exciton properties. We confirm the imprinting of moir\'e patterns on monolayer MoSe2 via proximity using Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) and hyperspectral photoluminescence (PL) mapping. By developing a technique to create large ferroelectric domain sizes ranging from 1 {\mu}m to 8.7 {\mu}m, we achieve unprecedented potential modulation of 387 +- 52 meV. We observe the formation of exciton polarons due to charge redistribution caused by the antiferroelectric moir\'e domains and investigate the optical property changes induced by the moir\'e pattern in monolayer MoSe2 by varying the moir\'e pattern size down to 110 nm. Our findings highlight the potential of twisted hBN as a platform for controlling the optical and electronic properties of 2D materials for optoelectronic and valleytronic applications.

High-quality (Q)-factor optical resonators with extreme temporal coherence are of both technological and fundamental importance in optical metrology, continuous-wave lasing, and semiconductor quantum optics. Despite extensive efforts in designing high-Q resonators across different spectral regimes, the experimental realization of very large Q-factors at visible wavelengths remains challenging due to the small feature size that is sensitive to fabrication imperfections, and thus is typically implemented in integrated photonics. In the pursuit of free-space optics with the benefits of large space-bandwidth product and massive parallel operations, here we design and fabricate a visible-wavelength etch-free metasurface with minimized fabrication defects and experimentally demonstrate a million-scale ultrahigh-Q resonance. A new laser-scanning momentum-space-resolved spectroscopy technique with extremely high spectral and angular resolution is developed to characterize the record-high Q-factor as well as the dispersion of the million-Q resonance in free space. By integrating monolayer WSe2 into our ultrahigh-Q meta-resonator, we further demonstrate laser-like highly unidirectional and narrow-linewidth exciton emission, albeit without any operating power density threshold. Under continuous-wave laser pumping, we observe pump-power-dependent linewidth narrowing at room temperature, indicating the potential of our meta-optics platform in controlling coherent quantum light-sources. Our result also holds great promise for applications like optical sensing, spectral filtering, and few-photon nonlinear optics.

Achieving precise control of photoinduced molecular charge transfer reactions underpins key emerging technologies. As such, the use of hybrid light-matter molecular exciton-polariton states has been proposed as a scheme to directly modify the efficiency and rate of such reactions. However, the efficacy of polariton-driven photochemistry remains an open question. Here, we demonstrate conditions under which photoinduced polaritonic charge transfer can be achieved and directly visualized using momentum resolved ultrafast spectroscopy. Key conditions for charge transfer are satisfied using Bloch surface wave polaritons, which exhibit favorable dispersion characteristics that permit the selective pumping of hybrid states with long lifetimes (100-400 fs) that permit vibrationally assisted molecular charge transfer. Using this approach, we tune the energetic driving force for charge separation, reducing it by as much as 0.5 eV compared to the bare exciton. These results establish that tunable and efficient polariton-driven molecular charge transfer is indeed possible using carefully considered photonic systems., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures

Realizing lattices of exciton polariton condensates has been of much interest owing to the potential of such systems to realize analog Hamiltonian simulators and physical computing architectures. Prior work on polariton condensate lattices has primarily been on GaAs-based systems, with the recent advent of organic molecules and perovskite systems allowing room-temperature operation. However, in most of these room temperature systems, the lattices are defined using a bottom-up approach by patterning the bottom mirrors, significantly limiting the types of lattices and refractive index contrast that can be realized. Here, we report a direct write approach that uses a Focused Ion Beam (FIB) to etch 2D lattice into a planar microcavity. Such etching of the cavity allows for realizing high refractive index contrast lattices. We realize the polariton condensate lattice using the highly photostable host-guest Frenkel excitons of an organic dye small molecular ionic lattice (SMILES).1,2 The lattice structures are defined on a planar microcavity embedded with SMILES using FIB, allowing the realization of lattices with different geometries, including defect sites on demand. The band structure of the lattice and the emergence of condensation are imaged using momentum-resolved spectroscopy. The present approach allows us to study periodic, quasi-periodic, and disordered polariton condensate lattices at room temperature using a top-down approach without compromising on the quantum yield of the organic excitonic material embedded in the cavity.

The manipulation of molecular excited state processes through strong coupling has attracted significant interest for its potential to provide precise control of photochemical phenomena. However, the key limiting factor for achieving this control has been the dark state problem, in which photoexcitation populates long-lived reservoir states with similar energies and dynamics to bare excitons. Here, we use a sensitive ultrafast transient reflection method with momentum and spectral resolution to achieve the selective excitation of organic exciton-polaritons in open photonic cavities. We show that the energy dispersions of these systems allow us to avoid the parasitic effect of reservoir states. Under phase-matching conditions, we observe the direct population and decay of polaritons on time scales of less than 100 fs and find that momentum scattering processes occur on even faster timescales. We establish that it is possible to overcome the dark state problem through careful design of strongly coupled systems.

Optical microcavities are often proposed as platforms for spectroscopy in the single- and few-photon regime due to strong light-matter coupling. For classical-light spectroscopies, an empty microcavity simply acts as an optical filter. However, we find that in the single- or few-photon regime treating the empty microcavity as an optical filter does not capture the full effect on the quantum state of the transmitted photons. Focusing on the case of entangled photon-pair spectroscopy, we consider how the propagation of one photon through an optical microcavity changes the joint spectrum of a frequency-entangled photon pair. Using the input-output treatment of a Dicke model, we find that propagation through a strongly coupled microcavity above a certain coupling threshold enhances the entanglement entropy between the signal and idler photons. These results show that optical microcavities are not neutral platforms for quantum-light spectroscopies and their effects must be carefully considered when using change in entanglement entropy as an observable.

Exciton-polaritons (EP), half-light half-matter quasiparticles that form in optical cavities, are attractive platforms for creating macroscopic coherent states like BECs. EPs based on organic molecules are of particular interest for realizing such states at room temperature while offering the promise of synthetic tunability. However, the demonstrations of such condensates have been limited to a few specific molecular systems1. Here we report a universal platform for realizing molecular polariton condensates using commercial dyes that solves long standing material challenges. This solution is made possible using a new and programable molecular material called small-molecule, ionic isolation lattices (SMILES) with the potential to incorporate a wide array of molecular fluorophores2. We show EP condensation in rhodamine by incorporating it into SMILES lattice placed in a planar microcavity. The SMILES approach overcomes the major drawbacks of organic molecular photophysical systems such as self-quenching, which sets the foundation for realizing practical polaritonic devices operating at ambient temperatures covering wide spectral range.

Controlling quantum materials with light is of fundamental and technological importance. By utilizing the strong coupling of light and matter in optical cavities (1-3), recent studies were able to modify some of their most defining features (4-6). In this work, we study the magneto-optical properties of a van der Waals magnet that supports strong coupling of photons and excitons even in the absence of external cavity mirrors. In this material - the layered magnetic semiconductor CrSBr - emergent light-matter hybrids called polaritons are shown to significantly increase the spectral bandwidth of correlations between the magnetic, electronic, and optical properties, enabling largely tunable optical responses to applied magnetic fields and magnons. Our results highlight the importance of exciton-photon self-hybridization in van der Waals magnets and motivate novel directions for the manipulation of quantum material properties by strong light-matter coupling.

Coherent control and manipulation of quantum degrees of freedom such as spins forms the basis of emerging quantum technologies. In this context, the robust valley degree of freedom and the associated valley pseudospin found in two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides is a highly attractive platform. Valley polarization and coherent superposition of valley states have been observed in these systems even up to room temperature. Control of valley coherence is an important building block for the implementation of valley qubit. Large magnetic fields or high-power lasers have been used in the past to demonstrate the control (initialization and rotation) of the valley coherent states. Here we demonstrate control of layer-valley coherence via strong coupling of valley excitons in bilayer WS2 to microcavity photons by exploiting the pseudomagnetic field arising in optical cavities owing to the TE-TM splitting. The use of photonic structures to generate pseudomagnetic fields which can be used to manipulate exciton-polaritons presents an attractive approach to control optical responses without the need for large magnets or high intensity optical pump powers.

A broad effort is underway to understand and harness the interaction between superconductors and spin-active color centers with an eye on the realization of hybrid quantum devices and novel imaging modalities of superconducting materials. Most work, however, overlooks the complex interplay between either system and the environment created by the color center host. Here we use an all-diamond scanning probe to investigate the spin dynamics of a single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center proximal to a high-critical-temperature superconducting film in the presence of a weak magnetic field. We find that the presence of the superconductor increases the NV spin coherence lifetime, a phenomenon we tentatively rationalize as a change in the electric noise due to a superconductor-induced redistribution of charge carriers near the NV site. We build on these findings to demonstrate transverse-relaxation-time-weighted imaging of the superconductor film. These results shed light on the complex surface dynamics governing the spin coherence of shallow NVs while simultaneously paving the route to new forms of noise spectroscopy and imaging of superconductors.

Atomic-level defects in van der Waals (vdW) materials are essential building blocks for quantum technologies and quantum sensing applications. The layered magnetic semiconductor CrSBr is an outstanding candidate for exploring optically active defects owing to a direct gap in addition to a rich magnetic phase diagram including a recently hypothesized defect-induced magnetic order at low temperature. Here, we show optically active defects in CrSBr that are probes of the local magnetic environment. We observe spectrally narrow (1 meV) defect emission in CrSBr that is correlated with both the bulk magnetic order and an additional low temperature defect-induced magnetic order. We elucidate the origin of this magnetic order in the context of local and non-local exchange coupling effects. Our work establishes vdW magnets like CrSBr as an exceptional platform to optically study defects that are correlated with the magnetic lattice. We anticipate that controlled defect creation allows for tailor-made complex magnetic textures and phases with the unique ingredient of direct optical access., Comment: main: 12 pages, 5 figures; SI: 14 pages, 11 figures

We study theoretically effects of an anisotropic elastic strain on the exciton energy spectrum fine structure and optical selection rules in atom-thin crystals based on transition-metal dichalcogenides. The presence of strain breaks the chiral selection rules at the $\bm K$-points of the Brillouin zone and makes optical transitions linearly polarized. The orientation of the induced linear polarization is related to the main axes of the strain tensor. Elastic strain provides an additive contribution to the exciton fine structure splitting in agreement with experimental evidence obtained from uniaxially strained WSe$_2$ monolayer. The applied strain also induces momentum-dependent Zeeman splitting. Depending on the strain orientation and magnitude, Dirac points with a linear dispersion can be formed in the exciton energy spectrum. We provide a symmetry analysis of the strain effects and develop a microscopic theory for all relevant strain-induced contributions to the exciton fine structure Hamiltonian., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures

Correlated quantum phenomena in one-dimensional (1D) systems that exhibit competing electronic and magnetic order are of strong interest for studying fundamental interactions and excitations, such as Tomonaga-Luttinger liquids and topological orders and defects with properties completely different from the quasiparticles expected in their higher-dimensional counterparts. However, clean 1D electronic systems are difficult to realize experimentally, particularly magnetically ordered systems. Here, we show that the van der Waals layered magnetic semiconductor CrSBr behaves like a quasi-1D material embedded in a magnetically ordered environment. The strong 1D electronic character originates from the Cr-S chains and the combination of weak interlayer hybridization and anisotropy in effective mass and dielectric screening with an effective electron mass ratio of $m^e_X/m^e_Y \sim 50$. This extreme anisotropy experimentally manifests in strong electron-phonon and exciton-phonon interactions, a Peierls-like structural instability and a Fano resonance from a van Hove singularity of similar strength of metallic carbon nanotubes. Moreover, due to the reduced dimensionality and interlayer coupling, CrSBr hosts spectrally narrow (1 meV) excitons of high binding energy and oscillator strength that inherit the 1D character. Overall, CrSBr is best understood as a stack of weakly hybridized monolayers and appears to be an experimentally attractive candidate for the study of exotic exciton and 1D correlated many-body physics in the presence of magnetic order., Comment: main: 16 pages, 5 figures; SI: 15 pages, 9 figures

Two-dimensional transition metal di-chalcogenide semiconductors provide unique possibilities to investigate strongly confined excitonic physics and a plasmonic platform integrable to such materials constitutes a hybrid system that can be of interest to enable manipulation of their cumulative optical properties. Here we report tuning of excitonic emission from monolayer WSe2, mechanically exfoliated on top of a periodic two dimensional plasmonic array of elliptical gold (Au) nanodiscs. By exploiting the polarization-dependent nature of plasmonic resonance of the nano plasmonic array (NPA), the photoluminescence (PL) emission from the overlaid monolayer WSe2 could be significantly manipulated. PL is preferentially enhanced at the NPA covered regions of the ake when excited closer to the plasmonic resonant frequencies and previously unpolarized WSe2 PL emission gained ~ 20 up to 40 % degree of linear polarization at room temperature. Obtaining significant spectral overlap between the PL spectrum of WSe2 and the polarization tunable plasmonic resonance of the NPA plays a crucial role in this observation. The results demonstrate active tunability of optical emission from WSe2 by using an otherwise passive plasmonic environment and open the possibility of achieving atomically thin linearly polarized emitters at room temperature. In addition to fundamentally interesting physics of such interactions this can be highly desirable for ultrathin orientation sensitive opto-electronic device related applications., Comment: 9 pages, 3 Figures

We show that a coherent network of lasers exhibits emergent neural computing capabilities. The proposed scheme is built on harnessing the collective behavior of laser networks for storing a number of phase patterns as stable fixed points of the governing dynamical equations and retrieving such patterns through proper excitation conditions, thus exhibiting an associative memory property. The associative memory functionality is first discussed in the strong pumping regime of a network of passive dissipatively coupled lasers which simulate the classical XY model. It is discussed that despite the large storage capacity of the network, the large overlap between fixed-point patterns effectively limits pattern retrieval to only two images. Next, we show that this restriction can be uplifted by using nonreciprocal coupling between lasers and this allows for utilizing a large storage capacity. This work opens new possibilities for neural computation with coherent laser networks as novel analog processors. In addition, the underlying dynamical model discussed here suggests a novel energy-based recurrent neural network that handles continuous data as opposed to Hopfield networks and Boltzmann machines which are intrinsically binary systems.

Strong coupling between light and elementary excitations is emerging as a powerful tool to engineer the properties of solid-state systems. Spin-correlated excitations that couple strongly to optical cavities promise control over collective quantum phenomena such as magnetic phase transitions, but their suitable electronic resonances have yet to be found. Here we report strong light-matter coupling in $\textrm{NiPS}_3$, a van der Waals antiferromagnet with highly correlated electronic degrees of freedom. A previously unobserved class of polaritonic quasiparticles emerges from the strong coupling between its spin-correlated excitons and the photons inside a microcavity. Detailed spectroscopic analysis in conjunction with a microscopic theory provides unique insights into the origin and interactions of these exotic magnetically coupled excitations. Our work introduces van der Waals magnets to the field of strong light-matter physics and provides a path towards the design and control of correlated electron systems via cavity quantum electrodynamics.

Fluorescent proteins (FPs) have recently emerged as a serious contender for realizing ultralow threshold room temperature exciton-polariton condensation and lasing. Our contribution investigates the thermalization of FP microcavity exciton-polaritons upon optical pumping under ambient conditions. We realize polariton cooling using a new FP molecule, called mScarlet, coupled strongly to the optical modes in a Fabry Perot cavity. Interestingly, at the threshold excitation energy (fluence) of ~ 9 nJ/pulse (15.6 mJ/cm2), we observe an effective temperature, Teff ~ 350 +/- 35 K close to the lattice temperature indicative of strongly thermalized exciton-polaritons at equilibrium. This efficient thermalization results from the interplay of radiative pumping facilitated by the energetics of the lower polariton branch and the cavity Q factor. Direct evidence for dramatic switching from an equilibrium state into a metastable state is observed for the organic cavity polariton device at room temperature via deviation from the Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics at k = 0 above the threshold. Thermalized polariton gases in organic systems at equilibrium hold substantial promise for designing room temperature polaritonic circuits, switches, and lattices for analog simulation., Comment: 23 pages, 4 main figures, 5 supplementary figures/data

We use density functional theory (DFT) to explore the physical properties of an $Er_{ W}$ point defect in monolayer $WS_{ 2}$. Our calculations indicate that electrons localize at the dangling bonds associated with a tungsten vacancy ($V_{W}$) and at the $Er^{ 3+}$ ion site, even in the presence of a net negative charge in the supercell. The system features a set of intra-gap defect states, some of which are reminiscent of those present in isolated $Er^{ 3+}$ ions. In both instances, the level of hybridization is low, i.e., orbitals show either strong Er or W character. Through the calculation of the absorption spectrum as a function of wavelength, we identify a broad set of transitions, including one possibly consistent with the $Er^{ 3+}$ $4I_{ 15/2} \rightarrow 4I_{ 13/2}$ observed in other hosts. Combined with the low native concentration of spin-active nuclei as well as the two-dimensional nature of the host, these properties reveal $Er:WS_{ 2}$ as a potential platform for realizing spin qubits that can be subsequently integrated with other nanoscale optoelectronic devices.

Realizing nonlinear optical response in the low photon density limit in solid-state systems has been a long-standing challenge. Semiconductor microcavities in the strong coupling regime hosting exciton-polaritons have emerged as attractive candidates in this context. However, the weak interaction between these quasiparticles has been a hurdle in this quest. Dipolar excitons provide an attractive strategy to overcome this limitation but are often hindered by their weak oscillator strength. The interlayer dipolar excitons in naturally occurring homobilayer MoS$_2$ alleviates this issue owing to their hybridization of interlayer charge transfer exciton and intralayer B exciton. Here we demonstrate the formation of dipolar exciton polaritons in bilayer MoS$_2$ resulting in unprecedented nonlinear interaction strengths. A ten-fold increase in nonlinearity is observed for the interlayer dipolar excitons compared to the conventional A excitons. These highly nonlinear dipolar polaritons will likely be a frontrunner in the quest for solid-state quantum nonlinear devices., Comment: 32 pages, 14 figures

Color centers in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) are presently attracting broad interest as a novel platform for nanoscale sensing and quantum information processing. Unfortunately, their atomic structures remain largely elusive and only a small percentage of the emitters studied thus far has the properties required to serve as optically addressable spin qubits. Here, we use confocal fluorescence microscopy at variable temperature to study a new class of point defects produced via cerium ion implantation in thin hBN flakes. We find that, to a significant fraction, emitters show bright room-temperature emission, and good optical stability suggesting the formation of Ce-based point defects. Using density functional theory (DFT) we calculate the emission properties of candidate emitters, and single out the CeVB center - formed by an interlayer Ce atom adjacent to a boron vacancy - as one possible microscopic model. Our results suggest an intriguing route to defect engineering that simultaneously exploits the singular properties of rare-earth ions and the versatility of two-dimensional material hosts.

We demonstrate that in photonic gap antennas composed of an epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) layer embedded within a high-index dielectric, hybrid modes emerge from the strong coupling between the ENZ thin film and the photonic modes of the dielectric antenna. These hybrid modes show giant electric field enhancements, large enhancements of the far-field spontaneous emission rate and a unidirectional radiation response. We analyze both parent and hybrid modes using quasinormal mode theory and find that the hybridization can be well understood using a coupled oscillator model. Under plane wave illumination, hybrid ENZ antennas can concentrate light with an electric field amplitude $\sim$100 times higher than that of the incident wave, which places them on par with the best plasmonic antennas. In addition, the far-field spontaneous emission rate of a dipole embedded at the antenna hotspot reaches up to $\sim$2300 that in free space, with nearly perfect unidirectional emission., Comment: 5 figures, 6 pages

Optical antennas made of low-loss dielectrics have several advantages over plasmonic antennas, including high radiative quantum efficiency, negligible heating and excellent photostability. However, due to weak spatial confinement, conventional dielectric antennas fail to offer light-matter interaction strengths on par with those of plasmonic antennas. We propose here an all-dielectric antenna configuration that can support strongly confined modes ($V\sim10^{-4}\lambda_{0}^3$) while maintaining unity antenna quantum efficiency. This configuration consists of a high-index pillar structure with a transverse gap that is filled with a low-index material, where the contrast of indices induces a strong enhancement of the electric field perpendicular to the gap. We provide a detailed explanation of the operation principle of such Photonic Gap Antennas (PGAs) based on the dispersion relation of symmetric and asymmetric horizontal slot-waveguides. To discuss the properties of PGAs, we consider silicon pillars with air or CYTOP as the gap-material. We show by full-wave simulations that PGAs with an emitter embedded in the gap can enhance the spontaneous emission rate by a factor of $\sim$1000 for air gaps and $\sim$400 for CYTOP gaps over a spectral bandwidth of $\Delta\lambda\approx300$ nm at $\lambda=1.25$ \textmu m. Furthermore, the PGAs can be designed to provide unidirectional out-of-plane radiation across a substantial portion of their spectral bandwidth. This is achieved by setting the position of the gap at an optimized off-centered position of the pillar so as to properly break the vertical symmetry of the structure. We also demonstrate that, when acting as receivers, PGAs can lead to a near-field intensity enhancement by a factor of $\sim$3000 for air gaps and $\sim$1200 for CYTOP gaps.

Software development has steadily embraced agile software development methodology/method (ASDM) and has been moving away from the plan driven software development methodology (PDM) approaches like waterfall. Given the iterative nature of agile development, the integration of software architecture into the agile way has become challenging. This research identifies the challenges of having a robust architecture in projects already executed by plan driven methods and new projects likewise by conducting a literature review and a case study analysis. The ensuing analysis finds that there are three major areas: people, process and technology, in which these challenges could be mapped., Comment: Conference Proceeding, 5 pages, 2 tables

Sub-wavelength nanostructured systems with tunable electromagnetic properties, such as hyperbolic metamaterials (HMMs), provide a useful platform to tailor spontaneous emission processes. Here, we investigate a system comprising $Eu^{ 3+}(NO_{3})_{3}6H_{2}O$ nanocrystals on an HMM structure featuring a hexagonal array of Ag-nanowires in a porous $Al_{2}O_{3}$ matrix. The HMM-coupled $Eu^{ 3+}$ ions exhibit up to a 2.4-fold increase of their decay rate, accompanied by an enhancement of the emission rate of the $^{ 5}D_{0}\rightarrow$ $^{ 7}F_{2}$ transition. Using finite-difference time-domain modeling, we corroborate these observations with the increase in the photonic density of states seen by the $Eu^{ 3+}$ ions in the proximity of the HMM. Our results indicate HMMs can serve as a valuable tool to control the emission from weak transitions, and hence hint at a route towards more practical applications of rare-earth ions in nanoscale optoelectronics and quantum devices.

The rise of quantum science and technologies motivates photonics research to seek new platforms with strong light-matter interactions to facilitate quantum behaviors at moderate light intensities. One promising platform to reach such strong light-matter interacting regimes is offered by polaritonic metasurfaces, which represent ultrathin artificial media structured on nano-scale and designed to support polaritons - half-light half-matter quasiparticles. Topological polaritons, or 'topolaritons', offer an ideal platform in this context, with unique properties stemming from topological phases of light strongly coupled with matter. Here we explore polaritonic metasurfaces based on 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) supporting in-plane polarized exciton resonances as a promising platform for topological polaritonics. We enable a spin-Hall topolaritonic phase by strongly coupling valley polarized in-plane excitons in a TMD monolayer with a suitably engineered all-dielectric topological photonic metasurface. We first show that the strong coupling between topological photonic bands supported by the metasurface and excitonic bands in MoSe2 yields an effective phase winding and transition to a topolaritonic spin-Hall state. We then experimentally realize this phenomenon and confirm the presence of one-way spin-polarized edge topolaritons. Combined with the valley polarization in a MoSe2 monolayer, the proposed system enables a new approach to engage the photonic angular momentum and valley degree of freedom in TMDs, offering a promising platform for photonic/solid-state interfaces for valleytronics and spintronics., Comment: 31 page, 10 figures

There is growing interest in using strongly coupled organic microcavities to tune molecular dynamics, including the electronic and vibrational properties of molecules. However, very little attention has been paid to the utility of cavity polaritons as sensors for out-of-equilibrium phenomena, including thermal excitations. Here, we demonstrate that non-resonant infrared excitation of an organic microcavity system induces a transient response in the visible spectral range near the cavity polariton resonances. We show how these optical response can be understood in terms of ultrafast heating of electrons in the metal cavity mirror, which modifies the effective refractive index and subsequently the strong coupling conditions. The temporal dynamics of the microcavity are strictly determined by carriers in the metal, including the cooling of electrons via electron-phonon coupling and excitation of propagating coherent acoustic modes in the lattice. We rule out multiphoton excitation processes and verify that no real polariton population exists despite their strong transient features. These results suggest the promise of cavity polaritons as sensitive probes of non-equilibrium phenomena.

The robust spin and momentum valley locking of electrons in two-dimensional semiconductors make the valley degree of freedom of great utility for functional optoelectronic devices. Owing to the difference in optical selection rules for the different valleys, these valley electrons can be addressed optically. The electrons and excitons in these materials exhibit valley Hall effect, where the carriers from specific valleys are directed to different directions under electrical or thermal bias. Here we report the optical valley Hall effect where the light emission from the valley polarized excitons in monolayer WS2 propagates in different directions owing to the preferential coupling of excitonic emission to the high momentum states of the hyperbolic metamaterial. The experimentally observed effects are corroborated with theoretical modeling of excitonic emission in the near field of hyperbolic media. The demonstration of the optical valley Hall effect using a bulk artificial photonic media without the need for nanostructuring opens the possibility of realizing valley-based excitonic circuits operating at room temperature., Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures

Nonreciprocity and nonreciprocal optical devices play a vital role in modern photonic technologies by enforcing one-way propagation of light. Most nonreciprocal devices today are made from a special class of low-loss ferrites that exhibit a magneto-optical response in the presence of an external static magnetic field. While breaking transmission symmetry, ferrites fail to satisfy the need for miniaturization of photonic circuitry due to weak character of nonreciprocal responses at optical wavelengths and are not easy to integrate into on-chip photonic systems. These challenges led to the emergence of magnetic-free approaches relying on breaking time reversal symmetry, e.g. with nonlinear effects modulating optical system in time. Here, we demonstrate an all-optical approach to nonreciprocity based on nonlinear valley-selective response in transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). This approach overcomes the limitations of magnetic materials and it does not require an external magnetic field. We provide experimental evidence of photoinduced nonreciprocity in a monolayer WS2 pumped by circularly polarized light. Nonreciprocity stems from valley-selective exciton-exciton interactions, giving rise to nonlinear circular dichroism controlled by circularly polarized pump fields. Our experimental results reveal a significant effect even at room temperature, despite considerable intervalley-scattering, showing potential for practical applications in magnetic-free nonreciprocal platforms. As an example, we propose a device scheme to realize an optical isolator based on a pass-through silicon nitride (SiN) ring resonator integrating the optically biased TMD monolayer., Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures

The concept of modifying molecular dynamics in strongly coupled exciton-polariton systems is an emerging topic in photonics due to its potential to produce customized chemical systems with tailored photophysical properties. However, before such systems can be realized, it is essential to address the open questions concerning the nature and strength of electronic interactions between exciton-polaritons and localized excited states in chemical system as well as the proper way to measure such interactions. Here, we use transient optical spectroscopy to investigate dynamical interactions between exciton-polaritons, singlet excitons, and triplet excitons in a molecular singlet fission system that is strongly coupled to an optical microcavity. We identify some of the major limitations to modify molecular dynamics in the strong coupling regime. Simultaneous excitation of cavity polaritons and 'reservoir' states, defined as dark polaritons and dark excitons (e.g. triplets) from coupled molecules and excitons from uncoupled molecules, always occurs. In addition, slow conversion from reservoir states to cavity polaritons results in minimal changes to the overall population dynamics. Furthermore, we demonstrate how in addition to the usual population dynamics, transient optical measurements on microcavities reveal information pertaining to modification of the exciton-polariton transition energies due to changes in the population of molecular excited states and the exciton-photon coupling conditions. As a consequence of weak interactions between reservoir states and cavity polaritons, judicious design considerations are required to achieve modified chemical dynamics, necessitating the use of molecular systems with long excited-state lifetimes or strong coupling approaches that require a small number of molecules.