Strongly Coupled Light-Matter Phenomena Investigated with Algorithimic and Formalistic Density Functional Coupling Schemes

Abstract

Nanostructures and quantum emitters in optical cavities are examined using novel light-matter coupling approaches. Treating light and matter on equal first-principles footing has not be necessary to advance the fields of optical and condensed matter physics; however, advancements in nanoplasmonics, quantum chemistry, and quantum optics present opportunities for more complex light-matter schemes, presenting questions not approachable using classical light propagation methods or many-body theories. Among the investigative opportunities are charge transfer observations in hybrid nanoparticles, ground state calculations for cavity-coupled atoms and molecules, and the time-dependent behavior of quantum emitters in optical cavities. In the "quantum-classical" regime, the current and density transfer dynamics of jellium and atomically-detailed nanoparticles are examined using coupled Maxwell and orbital-free density functional equations, in which all effective energy functionals are density-dependent, the Maxwell equations are propagated using the time evolution operator, and the back-reaction of the induced current is detectable in the classical net field. In the "quantum-quantum" framework, many-electron systems, atoms, and molecules, in and out of ground state equilibrium while coupled to optical cavities, are examined using density functional schemes constructed from the Pauli-Fierz Hamiltonian of non-relativistic quantum electrodynamics.