Coherent perfect absorption in deeply subwavelength films in the single-photon regime

Thomas Roger, Stefano Vezzoli, Eliot Bolduc, Joao Valente, Julius J. F. Heitz, John Jeffers, Cesare Soci, Jonathan Leach, Christophe Couteau, Nikolay I. Zheludev and Daniele Faccio ()
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Thomas Roger: Institute for Photonics and Quantum Sciences and SUPA, Heriot-Watt University
Stefano Vezzoli: Centre for Disruptive Photonic Technologies, Nanyang Technological University
Eliot Bolduc: Institute for Photonics and Quantum Sciences and SUPA, Heriot-Watt University
Joao Valente: Optoelectronics Research Centre & Centre for Photonic Metamaterials, University of Southampton
Julius J. F. Heitz: Institute for Photonics and Quantum Sciences and SUPA, Heriot-Watt University
John Jeffers: University of Strathclyde
Cesare Soci: Centre for Disruptive Photonic Technologies, Nanyang Technological University
Jonathan Leach: Institute for Photonics and Quantum Sciences and SUPA, Heriot-Watt University
Christophe Couteau: Centre for Disruptive Photonic Technologies, Nanyang Technological University
Nikolay I. Zheludev: Centre for Disruptive Photonic Technologies, Nanyang Technological University
Daniele Faccio: Institute for Photonics and Quantum Sciences and SUPA, Heriot-Watt University

Nature Communications, 2015, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-5

Abstract: Abstract The technologies of heating, photovoltaics, water photocatalysis and artificial photosynthesis depend on the absorption of light and novel approaches such as coherent absorption from a standing wave promise total dissipation of energy. Extending the control of absorption down to very low light levels and eventually to the single-photon regime is of great interest and yet remains largely unexplored. Here we demonstrate the coherent absorption of single photons in a deeply subwavelength 50% absorber. We show that while the absorption of photons from a travelling wave is probabilistic, standing wave absorption can be observed deterministically, with nearly unitary probability of coupling a photon into a mode of the material, for example, a localized plasmon when this is a metamaterial excited at the plasmon resonance. These results bring a better understanding of the coherent absorption process, which is of central importance for light harvesting, detection, sensing and photonic data processing applications.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms8031

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