Coupling Quantum Tunneling with Cavity Photons

TLDR

Electron tunneling underpins diverse phenomena from chemical reactions to semiconductor transport, yet recent advances show that binding electrons into light‑matter polaritons can create bosonic quasiparticles that Bose‑condense into superfluids and exhibit strong dipole interactions. The study aims to use tunneling polaritons to link electron tunneling with polariton superfluidity, producing bosonic quasiparticles with static dipole moments. The authors generate tunneling polaritons by coupling electrons to cavity photons, yielding bosonic quasiparticles that possess static dipole moments. The resulting three‑state system produces dark polaritons analogous to those in atomic or optical waveguide systems, enabling electromagnetically induced transparency, room‑temperature condensation, and adiabatic photon‑to‑electron transfer.

Abstract

Tunneling of electrons through a potential barrier is fundamental to chemical reactions, electronic transport in semiconductors and superconductors, magnetism, and devices such as terahertz oscillators. Whereas tunneling is typically controlled by electric fields, a completely different approach is to bind electrons into bosonic quasiparticles with a photonic component. Quasiparticles made of such light-matter microcavity polaritons have recently been demonstrated to Bose-condense into superfluids, whereas spatially separated Coulomb-bound electrons and holes possess strong dipole interactions. We use tunneling polaritons to connect these two realms, producing bosonic quasiparticles with static dipole moments. Our resulting three-state system yields dark polaritons analogous to those in atomic systems or optical waveguides, thereby offering new possibilities for electromagnetically induced transparency, room-temperature condensation, and adiabatic photon-to-electron transfer.