Burak Gürlek M.Sc.

Molecule-photon interactions in phononic environments

Michael Reitz, Christian Sommer, Burak Gürlek, Vahid Sandoghdar, Diego-Martin Cano, Claudiu Genes

Molecules constitute compact hybrid quantum optical systems that can interface photons, electronic degrees of freedom, localized mechanical vibrations, and phonons. In particular, the strong vibronic interaction between electrons and nuclear motion in a molecule resembles the optomechanical radiation pressure Hamiltonian. While molecular vibrations are often in the ground state even at elevated temperatures, one still needs to get a handle on decoherence channels associated with phonons before an efficient quantum optical network based on optovibrational interactions in solid-state molecular systems could be realized. As a step towards a better understanding of decoherence in phononic environments, we take here an open quantum system approach to the nonequilibrium dynamics of guest molecules embedded in a crystal, identifying regimes of Markovian versus non-Markovian vibrational relaxation. A stochastic treatment, based on quantum Langevin equations, predicts collective vibron-vibron dynamics that resembles processes of sub- and super-radiance for radiative transitions. This in turn leads to the possibility of decoupling intramolecular vibrations from the phononic bath, allowing for enhanced coherence times of collective vibrations. For molecular polaritonics in strongly confined geometries, we also show that the imprint of optovibrational couplings onto the emerging output field results in effective polariton cross-talk rates for finite bath occupancies.

Quantum metamaterials with magnetic response at optical frequencies

Rasoul Alaee Khanghah, Burak Gürlek, Mohammad Albooyeh, Diego-Martin Cano, Vahid Sandoghdar

We propose novel quantum antennas and metamaterials with strong magnetic response at optical frequencies. Our design is based on the arrangement of natural atoms with only electric dipole transition moments at distances smaller than a wavelength of light but much larger than their physical size. In particular, we show that an atomic dimer can serve as a magnetic antenna at its antisymmetric mode to enhance the decay rate of a magnetic transition in its vicinity by several orders of magnitude. Furthermore, we study metasurfaces composed of atomic bilayers with and without cavities and show that they can fully reflect the electric and magnetic fields of light, thus, forming nearly perfect electric/magnetic mirrors. The proposed quantum metamaterials can be fabricated with available state-of-the-art technologies and promise several applications both in classical optics and quantum engineering.

Manipulation of Quenching in Nanoantenna–Emitter Systems Enabled by External Detuned Cavities: A Path to Enhance Strong-Coupling

Burak Gürlek, Vahid Sandoghdar, Diego-Martin Cano

We show that a broadband Fabry Perot microcavity can assist an emitter coupled to an off-resonant plasmonic nanoantenna to inhibit the nonradiative channels that affect the quenching of fluorescence. We identify the interference mechanism that creates the necessary enhanced couplings and bandwidth narrowing of the hybrid resonance and show that it can assist entering into the strong coupling regime. Our results provide new possibilities for improving the efficiency of solid-state emitters and accessing diverse realms of photophysics with hybrid structures that can be fabricated using existing technologies.