Controlling Ultrastrong Light-Matter Coupling at Room Temperature

The interaction between light and electrons in a system composed of two gold mirrors separated by a small distance and plasmonic gold nanorods produced ultrastrong coupling between light and matter at room temperature. The work stems from an international collaboration of researchers at Chalmers University and in Russia and Poland, as part of a study with broad implications in terms of both future research and potential applications, including light sources, nanomachinery, and quantum technology.

“A concept for creating controllable ultrastrong coupling at room temperature in relatively simple systems can offer a testbed for fundamental physics,” said Timur Shegai, associate professor at Chalmers and an author of the paper introducing the work. “The fact that this ultrastrong coupling ‘costs’ energy could lead to observable effects; for example, it could modify the reactivity of chemicals or tailor van der Waals interactions. Ultrastrong coupling enables a variety of intriguing physical phenomena.