Quantum Plexcitonic Sensing

Published

October 11, 2023

Author(s)

Peng Zheng, Stephen Semancik, Ishan Barman

Abstract

Quantum sensing is poised to deliver unparalleled performance compared to its classical counterpart. While fundamental to quantum sensing, quantum state control has been traditionally limited to extreme conditions, such as a high vacuum or an ultra-stable mechanical and thermal environment. This restricts practical implementation of quantum sensing from impacting a broad range of physical measurements. Plexcitons, however, provide a promising path under ambient conditions toward quantum state control, and thus quantum sensing, owing to their origin from plasmon-exciton strong coupling. Herein, we leverage plexcitons to conceptualize three potential routes toward quantum plexcitonic sensing. Among them, modal strong coupling stands out and promises to deliver coveted ultrasensitivity. By spatially and spectrally coupling excitonic particles with the metamaterial mode of a plasmonic hyperbolic metamaterial platform, we unambiguously demonstrate that, as compared to classical sensing based on the dielectric perturbation-induced frequency shift in the weak-coupling regime, quantum plexcitonic sensing performs at a level that is 50 times more sensitive. Successful demonstration of the proposed novel sensing strategy opens the door for quantum plexcitonic sensing to be generalized on a wide array of strongly coupled plasmon-exciton systems for a variety of physical, chemical, and biological measurements.

Citation

Nano Letters

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c03095

Local Download

Keywords

quantum sensing, plexciton, plasmon, Rabi splitting, strong coupling

Citation

Zheng, P. , Semancik, S. and Barman, I. (2023), Quantum Plexcitonic Sensing, Nano Letters, [online], https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c03095, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=956379 (Accessed October 6, 2025)