arXiv subjects

David Hagenmüller

Publications and source records attributed to David Hagenmüller.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Spontaneous Raman Scattering under Vibrational Strong Coupling: The Critical Role of Polariton Spatial Mode Coherence

Resonant coupling of a vibration to a cavity mode has been reported to dramatically modify spontaneous Raman scattering, but subsequent studies have produced conflicting results. In this Letter, we develop a microscopic quantum framework that captures the spatial structure of polaritonic modes. In a homogeneously filled cavity, spatial overlap between polaritons and cavity resonances enforces selection rules that suppress the initially reported polaritonic Raman peaks, consistent with most experiments. In contrast, for a quasi-two-dimensional (2D) molecular layer, these rules are lifted, yielding Raman peaks at the polariton energies. Our Letter clarifies that the Raman response under vibrational strong coupling is determined by cavity-vibration spatial mode overlap and offers a framework for Raman studies of strongly coupled quasi-2D systems.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2026

Polariton-Assisted Inelastic Tunneling through a Quantum Well

We investigate electronic transport through a doped quantum well strongly interacting with a photonic mode confined in a double-metal cavity. Using a nonequilibrium Green's function formalism, we derive compact expressions for the current valid for arbitrary collective light--matter coupling strengths exceeding the relevant loss rates. We show that cavity polaritons leave observable transport signatures when the carrier injection rate is smaller than the cavity-induced electronic broadening. In this regime, the current--voltage characteristics exhibit inelastic sidebands associated with resonant and anti-resonant polariton emission, which are strongly enhanced under resonant illumination. Our results provide a realistic route to detecting cavity-induced modifications of charge transport in semiconductor heterostructures.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2026

Microscopic quantum description of surface plasmon polaritons: Revealing intrinsic ultrastrong light-matter coupling

We develop a microscopic quantum theory of surface plasmon polaritons valid for arbitrary metal-dielectric geometries. Our framework is based on the Power-Zienau-Woolley representation of quantum electrodynamics, which provides an optimal separation between electronic and photonic degrees of freedom and is therefore particularly well suited for constructing quantum descriptions of polaritonic excitations in strongly dispersive media. Within this formulation, the fundamental electronic oscillator is identified as the bulk plasmon mode, which is nonperturbatively coupled to the radiative continuum of free photon modes. This coupling induces a geometry-dependent renormalization of the bulk plasma frequency, giving rise to confined plasmonic resonances. As specific applications, we recover the localized surface plasmon modes of metallic nanoparticles, including radiative frequency shifts and decay, as well as the exact dispersion relation of propagating surface plasmon polaritons at planar interfaces. Our quantum treatment further reveals that light-matter interactions at metal-dielectric interfaces are inherently in the ultrastrong coupling regime. As a result, in the quasistatic limit, the system exhibits unconventional ground-state quantum fluctuations that can be controlled through the refractive index. These results open new intriguing perspectives in the field of quantum plasmonics.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2026

Enhanced localization length in a disordered one-dimensional band via cavity coupling to delocalized states

We investigate the localization properties of cavity-coupled electronic states in disordered systems, motivated by recent proposals of cavity-mediated hopping in quantum Hall systems. We first introduce a minimal two-band model in which localized states in a disordered one-dimensional band are coupled, through a homogeneous cavity mode, to an excited band of delocalized states. Combining perturbation theory with a transfer-matrix approach, we show that cavity-assisted hopping between localized states decays exponentially with distance, implying that the eigenstates remain localized even beyond the perturbative regime. Nevertheless, the corresponding localization length increases with the light-matter coupling strength and can extend over several lattice sites in the single-electron ultrastrong-coupling regime. We then study a disordered Landau band coupled to a cavity mode within the framework developed in Refs.[1,2]. We find that the effective cavity-mediated coupling between edge states also decays exponentially with distance, but with a localization length that can reach micrometer scales for experimentally realistic parameters. By analyzing the inverse participation ratio, we show that this enhanced coupling is predominantly mediated by the most extended states of the upper Landau band. Our results demonstrate that, while cavity-induced hopping in disordered quantum Hall systems remains exponentially localized, the associated localization length can become sufficiently large for the corresponding states to exhibit effectively delocalized behavior on mesoscopic length scales.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2026

Floquet Engineering of a Quasiequilibrium Superradiant Phase Transition in Landau Polaritons

Superradiant phase transitions (SRPTs), characterized by photon condensation and macroscopic matter polarization, are forbidden in equilibrium for homogeneous fields by no-go theorems. Here, we show that Floquet driving can circumvent this constraint in a Landau polariton system consisting of a two-dimensional electron gas coupled to a terahertz cavity in a DC magnetic field. An off-resonant AC magnetic field modulates the cyclotron frequency and light--matter coupling strength while leaving the diamagnetic term unchanged, generating an additional DC coupling contribution. This drives the system across a critical threshold into a superradiant phase, characterized by photon condensation and Landau-level polarization in the ground state of the Floquet Hamiltonian. This quasiequilibrium approach offers a route to SRPTs distinct from driven-dissipative schemes.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Symmetry-Controlled Ultrastrong Phonon-Photon Coupling in a Terahertz Cavity

Optical cavities provide a powerful means to engineer light-matter hybrid states by coupling confined electromagnetic fields with matter excitations. Achieving in situ control of the coupling strength is essential for investigating how such hybridization evolves with the coupling strength. In this work, we use a symmetry-changing structural phase transition in lead halide perovskites to reversibly tune the phonon-photon coupling strength, leveraging the fact that their phonon frequencies and oscillator strengths are dictated by lattice symmetry. Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy of MAPbI3 embedded in nanoslot cavities reveals three polariton branches above the critical temperature Tc = 162.5 K, and the emergence of an additional branch below Tc, activated by a new phonon mode in the low-temperature phase. The full dispersion is accurately reproduced using a multimode Hopfield model, confirming that all normalized coupling strengths remain in the ultrastrong coupling regime. These results demonstrate symmetry-controlled tuning of ultrastrong coupling via phonon engineering in optical cavities.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Multimode Phonon-Polaritons in Lead-Halide Perovskites in the Ultrastrong Coupling Regime

Phonons play a central role in fundamental solid-state phenomena, including superconductivity, Raman scattering, and symmetry-breaking phases. Harnessing phonons to control these effects and enable quantum technologies is therefore of great interest. However, most existing phonon control strategies rely on external driving fields or anharmonic interactions, limiting their applicability. Here, we realize multimode ultrastrong light--matter coupling and theoretically show the modulation of phonon emission. This regime is realized by coupling two optical phonon modes in lead halide perovskites to a nanoslot array functioning as a single-mode cavity. The small mode volume of the nanoslots enables high coupling strengths in the phonon-polariton system. We show theoretically that the nanoslot resonator mediates an effective interaction between phonon modes, leading to superthermal phonon bunching in thermal equilibrium between distinct modes. Our findings are well described by a multimode Hopfield model. This work establishes a pathway for engineering phononic properties for light-harvesting and light-emitting technologies.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Multimode Ultrastrong Coupling in Three-Dimensional Photonic-Crystal Cavities

Recent theoretical studies have highlighted the role of spatially varying cavity electromagnetic fields in exploring novel cavity quantum electrodynamics (cQED) phenomena, such as the potential realization of the elusive Dicke superradiant phase transition. One-dimensional photonic-crystal cavities (PCCs), widely used for studying solid-state cQED systems, have uniform spatial profiles in the lateral plane. Three-dimensional (3D) PCCs, which exhibit discrete in-plane translational symmetry, overcome this limitation, but fabrication challenges have hindered the achievement of strong coupling in 3D-PCCs. Here, we report the realization of multimode ultrastrong coupling in a 3D-PCC at terahertz frequencies. The multimode coupling between the 3D-PCC's cavity modes and the cyclotron resonance of a Landau-quantized two-dimensional electron gas in GaAs is significantly influenced by the spatial profiles of the cavity modes, leading to distinct coupling scenarios depending on the probe polarization. Our experimental results are in excellent agreement with a multimode extended Hopfield model that accounts for the spatial inhomogeneity of the cavity field. Guided by the model, we discuss the possible strong ground-state correlations between different cavity modes and introduce relevant figures of merit for the multimode ultrastrong coupling regime. Our findings emphasize the importance of spatially nonuniform cavity mode profiles in probing nonintuitive quantum phenomena expected for the ground states of cQED systems in the ultrastrong coupling regime.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Multifractality in the interacting disordered Tavis-Cummings model

We analyze the spectral and transport properties of the interacting disordered Tavis-Cummings model at half excitation filling. We demonstrate that a Poissonian level statistics coexists with eigenfunctions that are multifractal (extended, but non-ergodic) in the Hilbert space, for all strengths of light-matter interactions. This is associated with a lack of thermalization for a local perturbation. We find that the bipartite entanglement entropy grows logarithmically with time, similarly to many-body localized systems, while the spin imbalance tends to zero for strong coupling, in analogy to ergodic phases. We show that these effects are due to the combination of finite interactions and integrability of the model. When a small integrability-breaking perturbation (nearest-neighbor hopping) is introduced, typical eigenfunctions become ergodic, seemingly turning the system into a near-perfect conductor, contrary to the single-excitation noninteracting case. We propose a realization of this model with cold atoms.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Anomalous diffusion in the Long-Range Haken-Strobl-Reineker model

We analyze the propagation of excitons in a $d$-dimensional lattice with power-law hopping $\propto 1/r^α$ in the presence of dephasing, described by a generalized Haken-Strobl-Reineker model. We show that in the strong dephasing (quantum Zeno) regime the dynamics is described by a classical master equation for an exclusion process with long jumps. In this limit, we analytically compute the spatial distribution, whose shape changes at a critical value of the decay exponent $α_{\rm cr} = (d+2)/2$. The exciton always diffuses anomalously: a superdiffusive motion is associated to a Lévy stable distribution with long-range algebraic tails for $α\leqα_{\rm cr}$, while for $α> α_{\rm cr}$ the distribution corresponds to a surprising mixed Gaussian profile with long-range algebraic tails, leading to the coexistence of short-range diffusion and long-range Lévy-flights. In the many-exciton case, we demonstrate that, starting from a domain-wall exciton profile, algebraic tails appear in the distributions for any $α$, which affects thermalization: the longer the hopping range, the faster equilibrium is reached. Our results are directly relevant to experiments with cold trapped ions, Rydberg atoms and supramolecular dye aggregates. They provide a way to realize an exclusion process with long jumps experimentally.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Large Random Arrowhead Matrices: Multifractality, Semi-Localization, and Protected Transport in Disordered Quantum Spins Coupled to a Cavity

We provide an exact solution of large random arrowhead Hamiltonians with diagonal disorder, a minimal model for inhomogeneously broadened quantum emitters coupled to a cavity mode. We find that the distribution of energy spacing can be continuously tuned between Poisson statistics and a distribution that is very close to semi-Poisson statistics - the latter being usually associated to the critical point of "Anderson" localization-delocalization transitions. We demonstrate that all the eigenstates - including two polaritons and a continuum of dark states - are multifractal, which indicates the existence of a critical "semi-localized" phase for all values of the light-matter coupling strength, where dark states are localized over multiple, arbitrarily-distant sites. By computing the escape probability from an initial site, we find that the system has a peculiar diffusive-like behavior with an escape probability growing linearly with time for any finite coupling strength, and that the escape rate can be controlled by selecting the energy of the initial site. The escape rate averaged over the disorder configurations is found to exhibit a maximum for intermediate coupling strengths, before saturating at a lower value in the collective strong coupling limit - a "cavity protection" effect. Surprisingly, we show that the saturation value increases with the disorder, indicating that the cavity does not only protect transport against disorder but can also turn the latter into an ally improving transport. We finally investigate the system in a two-terminal configuration, and show that the steady-state excitation current exhibits similar features as the escape probability, thereby extending our cavity-protected transport scenario to out-of-equilibrium situations. We finally demonstrate that dark states can provide the major contribution to long-distance transport in disordered systems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Dark state semilocalization of quantum emitters in a cavity

We study a disordered ensemble of quantum emitters collectively coupled to a lossless cavity mode. The latter is found to modify the localization properties of the "dark" eigenstates, which exhibit a character of being localized on multiple, noncontiguous sites. We denote such states as semi-localized and characterize them by means of standard localization measures. We show that those states can very efficiently contribute to coherent energy transport. Our paper underlines the important role of dark states in systems with strong light-matter coupling.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Ensemble-induced strong light-matter coupling of a single quantum emitter

We discuss a technique to strongly couple a single target quantum emitter to a cavity mode, which is enabled by virtual excitations of a nearby mesoscopic ensemble of emitters. A collective coupling of the latter to both the cavity and the target emitter induces strong photon non-linearities in addition to polariton formation, in contrast to common schemes for ensemble strong coupling. We demonstrate that strong coupling at the level of a single emitter can be engineered via coherent and dissipative dipolar interactions with the ensemble, and provide realistic parameters for a possible implementation with SiV$^{-}$ defects in diamond. Our scheme can find applications, amongst others, in quantum information processing or in the field of cavity-assisted quantum chemistry.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Adiabatic elimination for ensembles of emitters in cavities with dissipative couplings

We consider an ensemble of cavity-coupled two-level emitters interacting via full (coherent and dissipative) dipole-dipole interactions. Using an adiabatic elimination procedure we derive effective equations of motion for a subsystem consisting of the cavity and a single emitter. Those equations can be used for schemes to enhance the cavity-coupling of single emitters as shown in [S. Schütz, J. Schachenmayer, D. Hagenmüller, G. K. Brennen, T. Volz, V. Sandoghdar, T. W. Ebbesen, C. Genes, and G. Pupillo, e-print arXiv:1904.08888]. We analyze limitations of effective subsystem parameters, and study how joint dissipative decay processes in the subsystem affect cavity-coupling properties of the single emitter and cavity transmission spectra.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Exploring Superconductivity under Strong Coupling with the Vacuum Electromagnetic Field

Light-matter interactions have generated considerable interest as a means to manipulate material properties. Light-induced superconductivity has been demonstrated using pulsed lasers. An attractive alternative possibility is to exploit strong light-matter interactions arising by coupling phonons to the vacuum electromagnetic field of a cavity mode as has been suggested and theoretically studied. Here we explore this possibility for two very different superconductors, namely YBCO (YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6+x}$) and Rb$_3$C$_{60}$, coupled to surface plasmon polaritons, using a novel cooperative effect based on the presence of a strongly coupled vibrational environment allowing efficient dressing of the otherwise weakly coupled phonon bands of these compounds. By placing the superconductor-surface plasmon system in a SQUID magnetometer, we find that the superconducting transition temperatures ($T_{c}$) for both compounds are modified in the absence of any external laser field. For YBCO, $T_{c}$ decreases from 92 K to 86 K while for Rb$_3$C$_{60}$, it increases from 30 K to 45 K at normal pressures. In the latter case, a simple theoretical framework is provided to understand these results based on an enhancement of the electron-phonon coupling. This proof-of-principle study opens a new tool box to not only modify superconducting materials but also to understand the mechanistic details of different superconductors.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2019

Effects of energy extensivity on the quantum phases of long-range interacting systems

We investigate the ground state properties of one-dimensional hard-core bosons interacting via a variable long-range potential using the density matrix renormalization group. We demonstrate that restoring energy extensivity in the system, which is done by rescaling the interaction potential with a suitable size-dependent factor known as Kac's prescription, has a profound influence on the low-energy properties in the thermodynamic limit. While an insulating phase is found in the absence of Kac's rescaling, the latter leads to a new metallic phase that does not fall into the conventional Luttinger liquid paradigm. Our results in one dimension illustrate the subtlety of determining the thermodynamic properties of generic long-range quantum systems.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

Enhancement of the electron-phonon scattering induced by intrinsic surface plasmon-phonon polaritons

We investigate light-matter coupling in metallic crystals where plasmons coexist with phonons exhibiting large oscillator strength. We demonstrate theoretically that this coexistence can lead to strong light-matter interactions without external resonators. When the frequencies of plasmons and phonons are comparable, hybridization of these collective matter modes occurs in the crystal. We show that the coupling of these modes to photonic degrees of freedom gives rise to intrinsic surface plasmon-phonon polaritons, which offer the unique possibility to control the phonon properties by tuning the electron density and the crystal thickness. In particular, dressed phonons with reduced frequency and large wave vectors arise in the case of quasi-2D crystals, which leads to large enhancements of the electron-phonon scattering in the vibrational ultrastrong coupling regime. This suggests that photons can play a key role in determining the quantum properties of certain materials. A non-perturbative self-consistent Hamiltonian method is presented that is valid for arbitrarily large coupling strengths.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Cavity-assisted mesoscopic transport of fermions: Coherent and dissipative dynamics

We study the interplay between charge transport and light-matter interactions in a confined geometry, by considering an open, mesoscopic chain of two-orbital systems resonantly coupled to a single bosonic mode close to its vacuum state. We introduce and benchmark different methods based on self-consistent solutions of non-equilibrium Green's functions and numerical simulations of the quantum master equation, and derive both analytical and numerical results. It is shown that in the dissipative regime where the cavity photon decay rate is the largest parameter, the light-matter coupling is responsible for a steady-state current enhancement scaling with the cooperativity parameter. We further identify different regimes of interest depending on the ratio between the cavity decay rate and the electronic bandwidth. Considering the situation where the lower band has a vanishing bandwidth, we show that for a high-finesse cavity, the properties of the resonant Bloch state in the upper band are transfered to the lower one, giving rise to a delocalized state along the chain. Conversely, in the dissipative regime with low cavity quality factors, we find that the current enhancement is due to a collective decay of populations from the upper to the lower band.

quant-ph↗