Bathish Baheej, Gad Raanan, Cheng Fan, Karlsson Kristoffer, Madugani Ramgopal, Douvidzon Mark, Chormaic Síle Nic, Carmon Tal
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, 3200003, Israel.
School of Electrical Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 6997801, Israel.
Nat Commun. 2023 Jul 27;14(1):4535. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-40205-0.
Ionised gas, i.e., plasma, is a medium where electrons-ions dynamics are electrically and magnetically altered. Electric and magnetic fields can modify plasma's optical loss, refraction, and gain. Still, plasma's low pressure and large electrical fields have presented as challenges to introducing it to micro-cavities. Here we demonstrate optical microresonators, with walls thinner than an optical wavelength, that contain plasma inside them. By having an optical mode partially overlapping with plasma, we demonstrate resonantly enhanced light-plasma interactions. In detail, we measure plasma refraction going below one and plasma absorption that turns the resonator transparent. Furthermore, we photograph the plasma's micro-striations, with 35 μm wavelength, indicating magnetic fields interacting with plasma. The synergy between micro-photonics and plasma might transform micro-cavities, and electro-optical interconnects by adding additional knobs for electro-optically controlling light using currents, electric-, and magnetic-fields. Plasma might impact microphotonics by enabling new types of microlasers and electro-optical devices.
电离气体，即等离子体，是一种电子 - 离子动力学在电场和磁场作用下发生改变的介质。电场和磁场可以改变等离子体的光学损耗、折射和增益。然而，等离子体的低压和强电场对将其引入微腔构成了挑战。在此，我们展示了壁比光波长还薄的光学微谐振器，其内部包含等离子体。通过使光学模式与等离子体部分重叠，我们展示了共振增强的光 - 等离子体相互作用。具体而言，我们测量到等离子体折射低于1，且等离子体吸收使谐振器变得透明。此外，我们拍摄到了波长为35μm的等离子体微条纹，这表明磁场与等离子体相互作用。微光子学与等离子体之间的协同作用可能会通过增加利用电流、电场和磁场进行电光控制光的额外手段来改变微腔和电光互连。等离子体可能通过实现新型微激光器和电光器件来影响微光子学。
