The control of light-matter interaction at the most elementary level has become an important resource for quantum technologies. In this work, we couple a single electron trapped in a carbon nanotube quantum dot to a THz resonator. The resulting light-matter interaction reaches the deep strong coupling regime that induces a THz energy gap in the carbon nanotube solely by the vacuum fluctuations of the THz resonator. This is directly confirmed by transport measurements.
Such a phenomenon which is the exact counterpart of inhibition of spontaneous emission in atomic physics opens the path to the readout of non-classical states of light using electrical current. This would be a particularly useful resource and perspective for THz quantum optics.
Inhibition of electronic transport induced by vacuum fluctuations of the THz field
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Vacuum-field-induced THz transport gap in a carbon nanotube quantum dot. F. Valmorra, K. Yoshida, L. C. Contamin, S. Messelot, S. Massabeau, M. R. Delbecq, M. C. Dartiailh, M. M. Desjardins, T. Cubaynes, Z. Leghtas, K. Hirakawa , J. Tignon, S. Dhillon, S. Balibar, J. Mangeney, A. Cottet & T. Kontos, Nat Commun 12, 5490 (2021).
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25733-x
Author affiliation:
Laboratoire de physique de L’Ecole normale supérieure (LPENS, ENS Paris/CNRS/Sorbonne Université/Université de Paris)
Corresponding author: Takis Kontos
Communication contact: L’équipe de communication