Engineering Vacuum Fluctuations in Hyperbolic Heterostructures

arXiv (Cornell University)

Abstract

Vacuum fluctuations can be engineered using optical cavities, resonators, and surface-polaritonic modes, but extending such control deep inside a material remains challenging. Here we show that the vacuum field inside a hyperbolic material can be reshaped by a much thinner overlayer with opposite hyperbolicity. This effect requires overlap between the hyperbolic bands of the two materials and modifies the coupling between the vacuum field and matter excitations within the bottom material, without changing its intrinsic dielectric properties. As an application, we use Eliashberg theory to study a two-dimensional superconducting layer inside the bottom material, showing that the overlayer can remotely change its critical temperature. Our results may shed light on recent experiments reporting changes in superconductivity arising from a frequency-matched hyperbolic overlayer, and suggest an on-chip route to long-range control of matter excitations and collective material properties.

Authors 8

1. Jie-Cheng Feng Aachen Institut für Theorie der Statistischen Physik

   Max Planck Society · Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institut für Theorie der Statistischen Physik , RWTH Aachen University , 52056 Aachen , Germany

   Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter ,

2. Xinle Cheng

   Max Planck Society · Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter

   Affiliation as printed

   Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter ,

3. Itai Keren

   Columbia University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Physics , Columbia University , New York , New York 10027 , USA

4. Dante M. Kennes Aachen Institut für Theorie der Statistischen Physik

   Max Planck Society · Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institut für Theorie der Statistischen Physik , RWTH Aachen University , 52056 Aachen , Germany

   Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter ,

5. Abhay N. Pasupathy

   Brookhaven National Laboratory · Columbia University

   Affiliation as printed

   Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Division , Brookhaven National Laboratory , Upton , NY , USA

   Department of Physics , Columbia University , New York , New York 10027 , USA

6. Dmitri Basov

   Columbia University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Physics , Columbia University , New York , New York 10027 , USA

7. Emil Vinas Bostrom

   Max Planck Society · Center for Free-Electron Laser Science · Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter

   Affiliation as printed

   Center for Free Electron Laser Science , Luruper Chaussee 149 , 22761 Hamburg , Germany

   Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter ,

8. Angel Rubio