Terahertz chiral photonic-crystal cavities for Dirac gap engineering in graphene
Abstract Strong coupling between matter and vacuum electromagnetic fields in a cavity can induce novel quantum phases in thermal equilibrium via symmetry breaking. Particularly intriguing is the coupling with circularly polarized cavity fields, which can break time-reversal symmetry (TRS) and lead t...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60335-x |
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| author | Fuyang Tay Stephen Sanders Andrey Baydin Zhigang Song Davis M. Welakuh Alessandro Alabastri Vasil Rokaj Ceren B. Dag Junichiro Kono |
| author_facet | Fuyang Tay Stephen Sanders Andrey Baydin Zhigang Song Davis M. Welakuh Alessandro Alabastri Vasil Rokaj Ceren B. Dag Junichiro Kono |
| author_sort | Fuyang Tay |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Strong coupling between matter and vacuum electromagnetic fields in a cavity can induce novel quantum phases in thermal equilibrium via symmetry breaking. Particularly intriguing is the coupling with circularly polarized cavity fields, which can break time-reversal symmetry (TRS) and lead to topological bands. This has spurred significant interest in developing chiral cavities that feature broken TRS, especially in the terahertz (THz) frequency range, where various large-oscillator-strength resonances exist. Here, we present a design for high-quality-factor THz chiral photonic-crystal cavities (PCCs) that achieve broken TRS using a magnetoplasma in a lightly doped semiconductor. We incorporate ab initio density functional theory calculations into the derived microscopic model, allowing a realistic estimate of the vacuum-induced gap in graphene when coupled to our chiral cavity. Our calculations show an enhancement in the light–matter interaction due to Dirac nodes and predict an energy gap on the order of 1 meV. The THz chiral PCCs offer a promising platform for exploring cavity-dressed condensed matter with broken TRS. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e23a3ec86e1444ccb473047db3fd38f2 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-e23a3ec86e1444ccb473047db3fd38f22025-08-20T03:25:19ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-06-0116111110.1038/s41467-025-60335-xTerahertz chiral photonic-crystal cavities for Dirac gap engineering in grapheneFuyang Tay0Stephen Sanders1Andrey Baydin2Zhigang Song3Davis M. Welakuh4Alessandro Alabastri5Vasil Rokaj6Ceren B. Dag7Junichiro Kono8Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rice UniversityDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rice UniversityDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rice UniversityJohn A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard UniversityMax Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of MatterDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rice UniversityDepartment of Physics, Harvard UniversityDepartment of Physics, Harvard UniversityDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rice UniversityAbstract Strong coupling between matter and vacuum electromagnetic fields in a cavity can induce novel quantum phases in thermal equilibrium via symmetry breaking. Particularly intriguing is the coupling with circularly polarized cavity fields, which can break time-reversal symmetry (TRS) and lead to topological bands. This has spurred significant interest in developing chiral cavities that feature broken TRS, especially in the terahertz (THz) frequency range, where various large-oscillator-strength resonances exist. Here, we present a design for high-quality-factor THz chiral photonic-crystal cavities (PCCs) that achieve broken TRS using a magnetoplasma in a lightly doped semiconductor. We incorporate ab initio density functional theory calculations into the derived microscopic model, allowing a realistic estimate of the vacuum-induced gap in graphene when coupled to our chiral cavity. Our calculations show an enhancement in the light–matter interaction due to Dirac nodes and predict an energy gap on the order of 1 meV. The THz chiral PCCs offer a promising platform for exploring cavity-dressed condensed matter with broken TRS.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60335-x |
| spellingShingle | Fuyang Tay Stephen Sanders Andrey Baydin Zhigang Song Davis M. Welakuh Alessandro Alabastri Vasil Rokaj Ceren B. Dag Junichiro Kono Terahertz chiral photonic-crystal cavities for Dirac gap engineering in graphene Nature Communications |
| title | Terahertz chiral photonic-crystal cavities for Dirac gap engineering in graphene |
| title_full | Terahertz chiral photonic-crystal cavities for Dirac gap engineering in graphene |
| title_fullStr | Terahertz chiral photonic-crystal cavities for Dirac gap engineering in graphene |
| title_full_unstemmed | Terahertz chiral photonic-crystal cavities for Dirac gap engineering in graphene |
| title_short | Terahertz chiral photonic-crystal cavities for Dirac gap engineering in graphene |
| title_sort | terahertz chiral photonic crystal cavities for dirac gap engineering in graphene |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60335-x |
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