Search for: All records

The properties of a two‐level quantum dipole emitter near an ultrathin transdimensional plasmonic film are studied theoretically. The model system studied mimics a solid‐state single‐photon source device. Using realistic experimental parameters, the spontaneous and stimulated emission intensity profiles are computed as functions of the excitation frequency and film thickness, followed by the analysis of the second‐order photon correlations to explore the photon antibunching effect. It is shown that ultrathin transdimensional plasmonic films can greatly improve photon antibunching with thickness reduction, which allows one to control the quantum properties of light and make them more pronounced. Knowledge of these features is advantageous for solid‐state single‐photon source device engineering and overall for the development of the new integrated quantum photonics material platform based on the transdimensional plasmonic films. 

We study within the framework of the Lifshitz theory the long-range Casimir force for in-plane isotropic and anisotropic free-standing transdimensional material slabs. 

A confinement‐induced nonlocal electromagnetic response model is applied to study radiative heat transfer processes in transdimensional plasmonic film systems. The results are compared to the standard local Drude model routinely used in plasmonics. The former predicts greater Woltersdorff length in the far‐field and larger film thicknesses at which heat transfer is dominated by surface plasmons in the near‐field, than the latter. The analysis performed suggests that the theoretical treatment and experimental data interpretation for thin and ultrathin metallic film systems must incorporate the confinement‐induced nonlocal effect in order to provide reliable results in radiative heat transfer studies. The fact that the enhanced far‐ and near‐field radiative heat transfer occurs for much thicker films than the standard Drude model predicts is crucial for thermal management applications with thin and ultrathin metallic films and coatings. 

We present a semi-analytical expression for the dielectric response function of quasi-2D ultrathin films of periodically aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes. We derive the response function in terms of the individual nanotube conductivity, plasma frequency, and the volume fraction of carbon nanotubes in the film. The real part of the dielectric response function is negative for a sufficiently wide range of the incident photon energy, indicating that the film behaves as a hyperbolic metamaterial. Inhomogeneous broadening increases the effect. 

Photonic technologies continue to drive the quest for new optical materials with unprecedented responses. A major frontier in this field is the exploration of nonlocal (spatially dispersive) materials, going beyond the local, wavevector-independent assumption traditionally adopted in optical material modeling. The growing interest in plasmonic, polaritonic, and quantum materials has revealed naturally occurring nonlocalities, emphasizing the need for more accurate models to predict and design their optical responses. This has major implications also for topological, nonreciprocal, and time-varying systems based on these material platforms. Beyond natural materials, artificially structured materials—metamaterials and metasurfaces—can provide even stronger and engineered nonlocal effects, emerging from long-range interactions or multipolar effects. This is a rapidly expanding area in the field of photonic metamaterials, with open frontiers yet to be explored. In metasurfaces, in particular, nonlocality engineering has emerged as a powerful tool for designing strongly wavevector-dependent responses, enabling enhanced wavefront control, spatial compression, multifunctional devices, and wave-based computing. Furthermore, nonlocality and related concepts play a critical role in defining the ultimate limits of what is possible in optics, photonics, and wave physics. This Roadmap aims to survey the most exciting developments in nonlocal photonic materials and metamaterials, highlight new opportunities and open challenges, and chart new pathways that will drive this emerging field forward—toward new scientific discoveries and technological advancements. 

We use quantum electrodynamics and the confinement-induced nonlocal dielectric response model based on the Keldysh-Rytova electron interaction potential to study the epsilon-near-zero modes of metallic films in the transdimensional regime. Peculiar effects are revealed such as the plasmon mode degeneracy lifting and the dipole emitter coupling to the split epsilon-near-zero modes, leading to thickness-controlled spontaneous decay with rates increased by up to three orders of magnitude. 

Finite-thickness effects are analyzed theoretically for plasma frequency and the associated dielectric response of plasmonic films formed by periodically aligned, infinitely thin, identical metallic cylinders. The plasma frequency of the system is shown to have unidirectional square-root-of-momentum and quasi-linear momentum spatial dispersion for thick and ultrathin films, respectively. This spatial dispersion and the unidirectional dielectric response nonlocality associated with it can be adjusted not only by the film material composition but also by varying the film thickness, the cylinder length, the cylinder-radius-to-film-thickness ratio, and by choosing the substrates and superstrates of the film appropriately. Application of the theory developed to finite-thickness periodically aligned carbon nanotube films is discussed.