An ultrastrongly coupled single terahertz meta-atom

Shima Rajabali*, Sergej Markmann, Elsa Jöchl, Mattias Beck, Christian A. Lehner, Werner Wegscheider, Jérôme Faist, Giacomo Scalari*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

25 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Free-space coupling to subwavelength individual optical elements is a central theme in quantum optics, as it allows the control over individual quantum systems. Here we show that, by combining an asymmetric immersion lens setup and a complementary resonating metasurface we are able to perform terahertz time-domain spectroscopy of an individual, strongly subwavelength meta-atom. We unravel the linewidth dependence as a function of the meta-atom number indicating quenching of the superradiant coupling. On these grounds, we investigate ultrastrongly coupled Landau polaritons at the single resonator level, measuring a normalized coupling ratio Ω/ω=0.6. Similar measurements on a lower density two dimensional electron gas yield a coupling ratio Ω/ω=0.33 with a cooperativity C = 94. Our findings pave the way towards the control of ultrastrong light-matter interaction at the single electron/ resonator level. The proposed technique is way more general and can be useful to characterize the complex conductivity of micron-sized samples in the terahertz domain.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2528
JournalNature Communications
Volume13
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022
Externally publishedYes

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