Spontaneous photon production in time-dependent epsilon-near-zero materials
File(s)PhysRevLett.118.133904.pdf (272.92 KB)
Published version
Author(s)
Prain, A
Vezzoli, S
Westerberg, N
Roger, T
Faccio, D
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Quantum field theory predicts that a spatially homogeneous but temporally varying medium will excite photon pairs out of the vacuum state. However, this important theoretical prediction lacks experimental verification due to the difficulty in attaining the required nonadiabatic and large amplitude changes in the medium. Recent work has shown that in epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) materials it is possible to optically induce changes of the refractive index of the order of unity, in femtosecond time scales. By studying the quantum field theory of a spatially homogeneous, time-varying ENZ medium, we theoretically predict photon-pair production that is up to several orders of magnitude larger than in non-ENZ time-varying materials. We also find that while in standard materials the emission spectrum depends on the time scale of the perturbation, in ENZ materials the emission is always peaked at the ENZ wavelength. These studies pave the way to technologically feasible observation of photon-pair emission from a time-varying background with implications for quantum field theories beyond condensed matter systems and with potential applications as a new source of entangled light.
Date Issued
2017-03-29
Date Acceptance
2016-10-23
Citation
Physical Review Letters, 2017, 118 (13)
ISSN
0031-9007
Publisher
American Physical Society
Journal / Book Title
Physical Review Letters
Volume
118
Issue
13
Copyright Statement
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000397808800003&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
Science & Technology
Physical Sciences
Physics, Multidisciplinary
Physics
INDIUM TIN OXIDE
RADIATION
GEOMETRY
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN 133904