Quantum statistical plasmonic metacrystals.

Abstract

Engineering materials that control quantum many-body dynamics remains challenging, as multiparticle interactions typically produce complex emergent behaviour that is difficult to predict^1,2. Here we introduce quantum statistical plasmonic metacrystals, structures in which the multiparticle dynamics mediated by optical near fields produce forbidden quantum statistical bands that enable selective transmission of different types of light. This functionality arises from a plasmonic structure composed of nanoantennas acting as meta-atoms³. Multiphoton fields with statistics within the allowed bands propagate without distortion, whereas fields in forbidden bands are suppressed or driven towards the nearest accessible statistical state. We show that these bands are determined by the geometry and collective arrangement of the meta-atoms, providing a deterministic route to engineering quantum statistical transport. This platform establishes a room-temperature quantum material intrinsically sensitive to the quantum coherence of many-body photonic systems, enabling their robust manipulation and transport⁴. Our results have implications for coherence-sensitive photonic materials for energy harvesting and scalable many-body quantum technologies^2,5.