Room-temperature Tamm-plasmon exciton-polaritons with a WSe2 monolayer

TLDR

Solid‑state cavity quantum electrodynamics explores light–matter coupling, with metal‑based approaches enabling sub‑diffraction optical confinement and transition metal dichalcogenides providing strong light–matter interaction at the monolayer limit. The study implements a Tamm‑plasmon‑polariton structure to investigate coupling with a monolayer of WSe₂ hosting highly stable excitons. The authors fabricated a Tamm‑plasmon‑polariton cavity and measured its coupling to the WSe₂ monolayer. Room‑temperature exciton‑polariton formation is evidenced by a 23.5 meV Rabi splitting in the dispersion, demonstrating that monolithic, compact architectures with atomic monolayers can generate polaritonic quasiparticles under ambient conditions, paving the way for nonlinearities, macroscopic coherence, and advanced spinor physics.

Abstract

Abstract Solid-state cavity quantum electrodynamics is a rapidly advancing field, which explores the frontiers of light–matter coupling. Metal-based approaches are of particular interest in this field, as they carry the potential to squeeze optical modes to spaces significantly below the diffraction limit. Transition metal dichalcogenides are ideally suited as the active material in cavity quantum electrodynamics, as they interact strongly with light at the ultimate monolayer limit. Here, we implement a Tamm-plasmon-polariton structure and study the coupling to a monolayer of WSe 2 , hosting highly stable excitons. Exciton-polariton formation at room temperature is manifested in the characteristic energy–momentum dispersion relation studied in photoluminescence, featuring an anti-crossing between the exciton and photon modes with a Rabi-splitting of 23.5 meV. Creating polaritonic quasiparticles in monolithic, compact architectures with atomic monolayers under ambient conditions is a crucial step towards the exploration of nonlinearities, macroscopic coherence and advanced spinor physics with novel, low-mass bosons.