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Adrián E. Rubio López

Publications and source records attributed to Adrián E. Rubio López.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Engineering strong coupling with molecular coatings in optical nanocavities

Quantum emitters near the surface of silver nanoparticles undergo Rabi oscillations in electronic population dynamics due to strong coupling with near-field multipole modes that are not radiative. Low-frequency nanoparticle dipole modes are radiative but do not couple strong enough to quantum emitters. These features limit the observation of strong coupling. Using macroscopic quantum electrodynamics theory within a Lorentzian pseudo-mode approximation for the non-Markovian interaction kernel, we demonstrate that by coating spherical silver nanoparticles with a thin molecular J-aggregate layer, the resulting core-shell plexciton resonance restructures the local electromagnetic vacuum at dipole-mode frequencies to enable Rabi oscillations for quantum emitters that otherwise would only undergo exponential population decay. Specifically, we show for quantum dot emitters in the near field of silver nanospheres of 20 nm radius, that weak-to-strong coupling crossovers can be induced using 2 nm J-aggregate shells. Our work demonstrates the potential of molecular aggregates to enable deep sub-wavelength structuring of the vacuum field for the observation of coherent quantum dynamics in optical nanocavities.

quant-ph↗

Ultrafast single-photon interference with a dipole qubit in a nanocavity

The stationary spectrum of individual dipole emitters in plasmonic nanocavities has been studied for a range of cavity geometries and dipole configurations. Less is known about the coherent dynamics of single photon creation in the nanocavity near field by an excited dipole. We address this gap by developing a Lorentzian kernel approximation that solves the time-dependent Schrödinger equation that describes the coupled dipole-photon dynamics in the single-excitation manifold. Our approach encodes the broadband nature of the nanocavity field through a non-Markovian memory kernel, derived from macroscopic QED theory. For a two-level dipole near a metallic nanosphere, we show that the single photon probability density in frequency space evolves in strong coupling from an initially localized source at the qubit frequency into a Rabi doublet over a timescale governed by the kernel spectrum. This dynamical crossover is accompanied by the formation of single-photon interference patterns in frequency and time, propagating coherently over a timescale limited by the shape of kernel spectrum to $\sim 100-150$ fs, which is accessible to ultrafast spectroscopy. We also show that the stationary spectrum of the coupled system can be manipulated by driving the nanocavity field using coherent pulses with variable spectral bandwidth. Using single-photon pulses narrower than the kernel spectrum, the Rabi splitting in a system that supports strong coupling can be effectively removed. The applicability of our results to other dipole-nanocavity configurations is discussed and a general strong coupling criterion for nanocavities is formulated.

quant-ph↗

Stability of a Magnetically Levitated Nanomagnet in Vacuum: Effects of Gas and Magnetization Damping

In the absence of dissipation a non-rotating magnetic nanoparticle can be stably levitated in a static magnetic field as a consequence of the spin origin of its magnetization. Here we study the effects of dissipation on the stability of the system, considering the interaction with the background gas and the intrinsic Gilbert damping of magnetization dynamics. At large applied magnetic fields we identify magnetization switching induced by Gilbert damping as the key limiting factor for stable levitation. At low applied magnetic fields and for small particle dimensions magnetization switching is prevented due to the strong coupling of rotation and magnetization dynamics, and the stability is mainly limited by the gas-induced dissipation. In the latter case, high vacuum should be sufficient to extend stable levitation over experimentally relevant timescales. Our results demonstrate the possibility to experimentally observe the phenomenon of quantum spin stabilized magnetic levitation.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Radiation Reaction of a Jiggling Dipole in a Quantum Electromagnetic Field

We show how to derive a consistent quantum theory of radiation reaction of a non-relativistic point-dipole quantum oscillator by including the dynamical fluctuations of the position of the dipole. The proposed non-linear theory displays neither runaway solutions nor acausal behaviour without requiring additional assumptions. Furthermore, we show that quantum (zero-point) fluctuations of the electromagnetic field are necessary to fulfil the second law of thermodynamics.

quant-ph↗

Landauer's formula breakdown for radiative heat transfer and non-equilibrium Casimir forces

In this work we analyze the incidence of the plates' thickness on the Casimir force and radiative heat transfer for a configuration of parallel plates in a non-equilibrium scenario, relating to Lifshitz's and Landauer's formulas. From a first-principles canonical quantization scheme for the study of the matter-field interaction, we give closed-form expressions for the non-equilibrium Casimir force and the heat transfer between plates of thickness $d_{\rm L},d_{\rm R}$. We distinguish three different contributions to the Casimir force and to the heat transfer in the general non-equilibrium situation: two associated to each of the plates, and one to the initial state of the field. We analyze the dependence of the Casimir force and heat transfer with the plate thickness (setting $d_{\rm L}=d_{\rm R}\equiv d$), showing the scale at which each magnitude converges to the value of infinite thickness ($d\rightarrow+\infty$) and how to correctly reproduce the non-equilibrium Lifshitz's formula. For the heat transfer, we show that Landauer's formula does not apply to every case (where the three contributions are present), but it is correct for some specific situations. We also analyze the interplay of the different contributions for realistic experimental and nanotechnological conditions, showing the impact of the thickness in the measurements. For small thickness (compared to the separation distance), the plates act to decrease the background blackbody flux, while for large thickness the heat is given by the baths' contribution only. The combination of these behaviors allows for the possibility of having a tunable minimum in the heat transfer that is experimentally attainable and observable for metals, and also of having vanishing heat flux in the gap when those difference are of opposite signs (thermal shielding). These features turns out to be relevant for nanotechnological applications.

quant-ph↗

Functional approach to quantum friction: effective action and dissipative force

We study the Casimir friction due to the relative, uniform, lateral motion of two parallel semitransparent mirrors coupled to a vacuum real scalar field, $ϕ$. We follow a functional approach, whereby nonlocal terms in the action for $ϕ$, concentrated on the mirrors' locii, appear after functional integration of the microscopic degrees of freedom. This action for $ϕ$, which incorporates the relevant properties of the mirrors, is then used as the starting point for two complementary evaluations: Firstly, we calculate the { in-out} effective action for the system, which develops an imaginary part, hence a non-vanishing probability for the decay (because of friction) of the initial vacuum state. Secondly, we evaluate another observable: the vacuum expectation value of the frictional force, using the { in-in} or Closed Time Path formalism. Explicit results are presented for zero-width mirrors and half-spaces, in a model where the microscopic degrees of freedom at the mirrors are a set of identical quantum harmonic oscillators, linearly coupled to $ϕ$

hep-th↗