Breaking the angular dispersion limit in thin film optics by ultra-strong light-matter coupling.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 39627203.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-024-54623-1 and PMC identifier 11615041.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Thin film interference is integral to modern photonics, e.g., allowing for precise design of high performance optical filters, photovoltaics and light-emitting devices. However, interference inevitably leads to a generally undesired change of spectral characteristics with angle. Here, we introduce a strategy to overcome this fundamental limit in optics by utilizing and tuning the exciton-polariton modes arising in ultra-strongly coupled microcavities. We demonstrate optical filters with narrow pass bands that shift by less than their half width (< 15 nm) even at extreme angles. By expanding this strategy to strong coupling with the photonic sidebands of dielectric multilayer stacks, we also obtain filters with high extinction ratios and up to 98% peak transmission. Finally, we apply this approach in flexible filters, organic photodiodes, and polarization-sensitive filtering. These results illustrate how strong coupling provides additional degrees of freedom in thin film optics that will enable exciting new applications in micro-optics, sensing, and biophotonics.