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Abstract Realizing nonlinear optical response in the low photon density limit in solid-state systems has been a long-standing challenge. Semiconductor microcavities in the strong coupling regime hosting exciton-polaritons have emerged as attractive candidates in this context. However, the weak interaction between these quasiparticles has been a hurdle in this quest. Dipolar excitons provide an attractive strategy to overcome this limitation but are often hindered by their weak oscillator strength. The interlayer dipolar excitons in naturally occurring homobilayer MoS 2 alleviates this issue owing to their formation via hybridization of interlayer charge transfer exciton with intralayer B exciton. Here we demonstrate the formation of dipolar exciton polaritons in bilayer MoS 2 resulting in unprecedented nonlinear interaction strengths. A ten-fold increase in nonlinearity is observed for the interlayer dipolar excitons compared to the conventional A excitons. These highly nonlinear dipolar polaritons will likely be a frontrunner in the quest for solid-state quantum nonlinear devices. 

Strong coupling between light and elementary excitations is emerging as a powerful tool to engineer the properties of solid-state systems. Spin-correlated excitations that couple strongly to optical cavities promise control over collective quantum phenomena such as magnetic phase transitions, but their suitable electronic resonances are yet to be found. Here, we report strong light–matter coupling in NiPS3, a van der Waals antiferromagnet with highly correlated electronic degrees of freedom. A previously unobserved class of polaritonic quasiparticles emerges from the strong coupling between its spin-correlated excitons and the photons inside a microcavity. Detailed spectroscopic analysis in conjunction with a microscopic theory provides unique insights into the origin and interactions of these exotic magnetically coupled excitations. Our work introduces van der Waals magnets to the field of strong light–matter physics and provides a path towards the design and control of correlated electron systems via cavity quantum electrodynamics. 

Abstract Strong optical nonlinearities play a central role in realizing quantum photonic technologies. Exciton-polaritons, which result from the hybridization of material excitations and cavity photons, are an attractive candidate to realize such nonlinearities. While the interaction between ground state excitons generates a notable optical nonlinearity, the strength of such interactions is generally not sufficient to reach the regime of quantum nonlinear optics. Excited states, however, feature enhanced interactions and therefore hold promise for accessing the quantum domain of single-photon nonlinearities. Here we demonstrate the formation of exciton-polaritons using excited excitonic states in monolayer tungsten diselenide (WSe 2 ) embedded in a microcavity. The realized excited-state polaritons exhibit an enhanced nonlinear response ∼ $${g}_{{pol}-{pol}}^{2s} \sim 46.4\pm 13.9\,\mu {eV}\mu {m}^{2}$$ g p o l − p o l 2 s ~ 46.4 ± 13.9 μ e V μ m 2 which is ∼4.6 times that for the ground-state exciton. The demonstration of enhanced nonlinear response from excited exciton-polaritons presents the potential of generating strong exciton-polariton interactions, a necessary building block for solid-state quantum photonic technologies. 

Strain engineering is a powerful tool in designing artificial platforms for high-temperature excitonic quantum devices. Combining strong light-matter interaction with robust and mobile exciton quasiparticles, two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (2D TMDCs) hold great promise in this endeavor. However, realizing complex excitonic architectures based on strain-induced electronic potentials alone has proven to be exceptionally difficult so far. Here, we demonstrate deterministic strain engineering of both single-particle electronic bandstructure and excitonic many-particle interactions. We create quasi-1D transport channels to confine excitons and simultaneously enhance their mobility through locally suppressed exciton-phonon scattering. Using ultrafast, all-optical injection and time-resolved readout, we realize highly directional exciton flow with up to 100% anisotropy both at cryogenic and room temperatures. The demonstrated fundamental modification of the exciton transport properties in a deterministically strained 2D material with effectively tunable dimensionality has broad implications for both basic solid-state science and emerging technologies.