Stabilizing atoms exposed to intense laser fields has been a central topic in atomic physics for decades, inspiring several theoretical frameworks that describe the phenomenon under different resonance conditions and coupling regimes. Here, we theoretically investigate an ionizing electronic transition driven by a resonant pump field, in contrast to Kramers–Henneberger atoms, which are stabilized by non-perturbative, non-resonant laser pulses. We show that, above a critical pump intensity, the drive creates a metastable electronic bound state emerging from the continuum, which decays via two-photon ionization. We calculate the resulting resonant fluorescence spectrum and find a qualitatively different structure from the familiar Mollow triplet associated with bound-to-bound transitions. This fluorescence provides a time-resolved probe of the population in the metastable state. In analogy to how the AC Stark shift is a semiclassical counterpart of the single-photon Rabi splitting observed in optical cavities, the phenomenon we describe is best understood as a semiclassical analog of recently observed excitons bound by a single cavity photon.

Strong light-matter coupling in optical waveguides provides a versatile platform for engineering hybrid polaritonic modes and their dispersion. Here we investigate multimode exciton-photon coupling in visible semiconductor waveguides supporting several transverse electric modes. Using rigorous coupled-wave analysis combined with a coupled-oscillator model, we show that the photonic band structure can be engineered across a range of regimes, from conventional multimode strong coupling to the superstrong coupling regime, where the Rabi splitting becomes comparable to the spacing between adjacent photonic modes. In the latter regime, hybridization between orthogonal electromagnetic modes is enabled by restricting the active material to a subregion of the mode volume where the photonic modes exhibit strong mutual overlap. This breaking of the orthogonality leads to polaritonic branches whose composition can be tuned among several photonic modes and the exciton. We demonstrate that small shifts of the exciton resonance produce pronounced changes in the propagation constants of different polariton branches, enabling exciton-controlled phase modulation through modal interference and, in the superstrong coupling regime, direct modal switching across a continuous S-shaped dispersion. The resulting figures of merit predict π phase shifts for exciton energy shifts of only a few meV over propagation lengths of tens of micrometers, while larger shifts are still required for mode switching. These results establish multimode waveguide polaritons as a versatile platform spanning multiple coupling regimes, for compact phase and intensity control in integrated photonic architectures.

We investigate a ionising electronic transition under resonant pumping. We demonstrate that, above a critical value of the pump intensity, a novel metastable electronic bound state is created, which can decay into the free electron continuum by two-photon ionization. We calculate the system's resonant fluorescence spectrum, finding results qualitatively different from the Mollow triplet expected in a bound-to-bound transition. The fluorescent emission can be used to measure the time-resolved population of the novel metastable state. Contrary to Kramers-Hennenberger atoms, stabilised by non-perturbative, non-resonant laser pulses, the physics we observe is inherently resonant and relies on perturbative level repulsion. In analogy to how the AC-Stark shift is a semiclassical version of the single-photon Rabi splitting observed in photonic cavity, the phenomenon we describe is better understood as a semiclassical version of recently observed excitons bound by a single cavity photon. Our results demonstrate a novel way to stabilise electronic states with intense laser fields, increasing our capability to design and engineer non-classical states of matter.

Controlling the spatial overlap of multiple modes of planar THz resonators ultrastrongly coupled to cyclotron resonances of Landau-quantized electrons allows us to design coupling pathways, similarly to the selection rules of classical optics.

Recent research revealed that in resonators with deep subwavelength gaps coupled to two-dimensional electron gases, propagating plasmons lead to energy leakage, hindering polaritonic resonance. This study introduces plasmonic reflectors to create an artificial energy stopband, confining terahertz-range plasmons and recovering polaritonic resonances. Using this approach demonstrates a normalized coupling ratio of Ω R /ω0 = 0.36, enabling the observation of polaritonic resonances not seen without plasmonic reflectors.

The central theme of cavity quantum electrodynamics is the coupling of a single optical mode with a single matter excitation, leading to a doublet of cavity polaritons which govern the optical properties of the coupled structure. Especially in the ultrastrong coupling regime, where the ratio of the vacuum Rabi frequency and the quasi-resonant carrier frequency of light, ΩR/ω c, approaches unity, the polariton doublet bridges a large spectral bandwidth 2ΩR, and further interactions with off-resonant light and matter modes may occur. The resulting multi-mode coupling has recently attracted attention owing to the additional degrees of freedom for designing light-matter coupled resonances, despite added complexity. Here, we experimentally implement a novel strategy to sculpt ultrastrong multi-mode coupling by tailoring the spatial overlap of multiple modes of planar metallic THz resonators and the cyclotron resonances of Landau-quantized two-dimensional electrons, on subwavelength scales. We show that similarly to the selection rules of classical optics, this allows us to suppress or enhance certain coupling pathways and to control the number of light-matter coupled modes, their octave-spanning frequency spectra, and their response to magnetic tuning. This offers novel pathways for controlling dissipation, tailoring quantum light sources, nonlinearities, correlations as well as entanglement in quantum information processing.

It was recently demonstrated that, in deep subwavelength gap resonators coupled to two-dimensional electron gases, propagating plasmons can lead to energy leakage and prevent the formation of polaritonic resonances. This process, akin to Landau damping, limits the achievable field confinement and thus the value of light-matter coupling strength. In this work, we show how plasmonic reflectors can be used to create an artificial energy stopband in the plasmon dispersion, confining them and enabling the recovery of the polaritonic resonances. Using this approach we demonstrate a normalized light-matter coupling ratio of Ω R ω0=0.36 employing a single doped quantum well with a resonator’s gap size of 250 nm equivalent to λ/3000 in vacuum, a geometry in which the polaritonic resonances would not be observable in the absence of the plasmonic reflectors.

The achievement of large values of the light-matter coupling in nanoengineered photonic structures can lead to multiple photonic resonances contributing to the final properties of the same hybrid polariton mode. We develop a general theory describing multi-mode light-matter coupling in systems of reduced dimensionality and we explore their novel phenomenology, validating the predictions of our theory against numerical electromagnetic simulations. On the one hand, we characterise the spectral features linked with the multi-mode nature of the polaritons. On the other hand, we show how the interference between different photonic resonances can modify the real-space shape of the electromagnetic field associated with each polariton mode. We argue that the possibility of engineering nanophotonic resonators to maximise the multi-mode mixing, and to alter the polariton modes via applied external fields, could allow for the dynamical real-space tailoring of subwavelength electromagnetic fields.

The coupling between propagating plasmons in two-dimensional electron gases and deeply subwavelength resonators with submicron gaps can lead to energy leakage and limit the achievable coupling strength. To overcome this physical limit, a “plasmonic reflector” structure is proposed to optically reflect and re-confine this leakage back in the cavity.

Recent experimental advances in Positronium (Ps) physics have made it possible to produce dense Ps ensembles in which Ps-Ps interactions may occur, leading to the production of Ps$_2$ molecules and paving the way to the realization of a Ps Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC). In order to achieve this latter goal it would be advantageous to develop new methods to measure Ps densities in real-time. Here we describe a possible approach to do this using polaritonic methods: using realistic experimental parameters we demonstrate that a dense Ps gas can be strongly coupled to the photonic field of a distributed Bragg reflector microcavity. In this strongly coupled regime, the optical spectrum of the system is composed of two hybrid positronium-polariton resonances separated by the vacuum Rabi splitting, which is proportional to the square root of the Ps density. Given that polaritons can be created on a sub-cycle timescale, a spectroscopic measurement of the vacuum Rabi splitting could be used as an ultra-fast Ps density measurement in regimes relevant to Ps BEC formation. Moreover, we show how positronium-polaritons could potentially enter the ultrastrong light-matter coupling regime, introducing a radically novel platform to explore its non-perturbative phenomenology.

In this paper, we perform the exact diagonalization of a light-matter strongly coupled system taking into account arbitrary losses via both energy dissipation in the optically active material and photon escape out of the resonator. This allows us to naturally treat the cases of couplings with structured reservoirs, which can strongly impact the polaritonic response via frequency-dependent losses or discrete-to-continuum strong coupling. We discuss the emergent gauge freedom of the resulting theory and provide analytical expressions for all the gauge-invariant observables in both the Power-Zienau-Woolley and the Coulomb representations. In order to exemplify the results, the theory is finally specialized to two specific cases. In the first one, both light and matter resonances are characterized by Lorentzian linewidths, and in the second one, a fixed absorption band is also present. The analytical expressions derived in this paper can be used to predict, fit, and interpret results from polaritonic experiments with arbitrary values of the light-matter coupling and with losses of arbitrary intensity and spectral shape in both the light and matter channels. A Matlab code implementing our results is provided.

We develop the theory of multimode hybridization in polariton platforms. In the specific case of Landau polaritons we demonstrate the possibility of tuning the near-field electromagnetic spatial mode profile by hybridising multiple metamaterial modes.

We will discuss, theoretically and experimentally, the existence of a limit to the possibility of arbitrarily increasing electromagnetic confinement in polaritonic systems, where strongly sub-wavelength fields can excite a continuum of high-momenta propagative magnetoplasmons. This leads to peculiar nonlocal polaritonic effects, as certain polaritonic features disappear and the system enters in the regime of discrete-to-continuum strong coupling. We will as well present experiments reporting spectroscopy of a single, ultrastrongly coupled, highly subwavelength resonator operating at 300 GHz.

Sub-wavelength electromagnetic field localization has been central in photonic research in the last decade, allowing to enhance sensing capabilities as well as increasing the coupling between photons and material excitations. The ultrastrong light-matter coupling regime in the THz range with split-ring resonators coupled to magnetoplasmons has been widely investigated, achieving successive world-records for the largest light-matter coupling ever achieved. Ever shrinking resonators have allowed to approach the regime of few electrons strong coupling, in which single-dipole properties can be modified by the vacuum field. Here we demonstrate, theoretically and experimentally, the existence of a limit to the possibility of arbitrarily increasing electromagnetic confinement in polaritonic systems. Strongly sub-wavelength fields can excite a continuum of high-momenta propagative magnetoplasmons. This leads to peculiar nonlocal polaritonic effects, as certain polaritonic features disappear and the system enters in the regime of bound-to-continuum strong coupling. Emerging nonlinearities due to the local breaking of Kohn's theorem are also reported.

We demonstrate that, in cavity-embedded doped quantum wells, strong light-matter interaction can create a bound excitonic state. Such a cavity-stabilised state is spectroscopically observed as a discrete resonance below the ionisation threshold.

Subwavelength electromagnetic field localization has been central to photonic research in the last decade, allowing us to enhance sensing capabilities as well as increase the coupling between photons and material excitations. The strong and ultrastrong light–matter coupling regime in the terahertz range using split-ring resonators coupled to magnetoplasmons has been widely investigated, achieving successive world records for the largest light–matter coupling ever achieved. Ever shrinking resonators have allowed us to approach the regime of few-electron strong coupling, in which single-dipole properties can be modified by the vacuum field. Here, we demonstrate, theoretically and experimentally, the existence of a limit to the possibility of arbitrarily increasing electromagnetic confinement in polaritonic systems. Strongly subwavelength fields can excite a continuum of high-momenta propagative magnetoplasmons. This leads to peculiar nonlocal polaritonic effects, as certain polaritonic features disappear and the system enters the regime of discrete-to-continuum strong coupling. Extreme electromagnetic field confinement in polaritonic systems is demonstrated. The tight fields can excite magnetoplasmons and result in nonlocal phenomena.

Light-matter interaction in highly coupled regimes is attracting many interests [1] , [2] , especially in fundamental physics as they can provide a platform to study several predicted quantum phenomena such as the possibility to access virtual squeezed vacuum state containing a finite population of virtual photons in the ground state or super-radiant quantum phase transition. Among several coupled systems, the highest coupling records [3] - [5] have been demonstrated in a system consists of metasurfaces of metallic resonators coupled to Landau level (LL) transitions in a semiconductor quantum well (QW). In such a system, more confinement and enhancement of the electric field by reducing the cavity volume can lead to a higher coupling strength; but there should be a physical or technological limit to this reduction.

We report a physical limit for reducing the modal volume of a cavity and ultimately increasing the light-matter coupling strength. Extremely confined photonic mode below a critical length-scale can introduce a large in-plane wave vector and excite a continuum of high momentum matter resonances. This excitations act as loss channels and reduce the field confinement by smearing the distribution of surface charges, thus consequently limiting the achievable field enhancement.

In this work, we theoretically and experimentally show that the confinement of an electromagnetic field below critical length-scales can excite high momentum matter resonances and can ultimately limit the light-matter coupling enhancement in an ultrastrong coupling regime.

When in a quantum optical system the coupling between matter and cavity mode becomes comparable to the bare excitation frequency, we enter a non-perturbative coupling regime, as perturbation theory fails describing the system’s dynamics. While recent advances in Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics allowed to achieve very high values of the coupling strength, thanks to the resonators properties optimization and the employment of solid-state devices, an ever growing interest has been shown about the possibility of significantly modify materials’ properties. It has been demonstrated that the chemical structure of molecules strongly coupled to a photon mode can be altered, which opens the possibility to manipulate and control chemical reactions. The aim of this thesis is to explore non-perturbative regimes on several quantum systems, and to investigate the effects of the coupling upon their properties, such as internal degrees of freedom or electronic states structure. I first developed a novel theory to determine the polariton spectrum of a dipolar ensamble in which a Ising-like dipole-dipole interaction in the 2 non-perturbative regime is considered. A further important focus is the investigation of the saturation effects due to the inclusion of the inter-dipole interaction, and the interplay between the latter and light-matter coupling strength. I also explored specifically the influence of the coupling on the rotational degrees of freedom of an ensemble of two-dimensional freely rotating dipoles, all coupled to a single cavity mode, finding that they are driven by the collective light-matter coupling to undergo a crossover between an isotropic and an aligned phase. I then investigated the case of cavity-embedded doped quantum wells, demonstrating that not only it is possible to couple a discrete cavity mode and bound-to-continuum transitions, but also that a novel bound exciton state appears, induced by the coupling strength. This results shows how light–matter coupling can be used to tune both optical and electronic properties of semiconductor heterostructures beyond those permitted by mere crystal properties. Finally, I explored the physics of an array of THz metamaterial resonators coupled to cyclotron resonances of a two-dimensional electron gas, developing a multiple-mode theory that takes in account the interaction between multiple photon modes mediated by the electrons. My results show that this cross-interaction, due to the strong two-dimensional geometry of the optically active medium, leads to the hybridization of different uncoupled photon modes, and manifests as a visible change of the distribution of the coupled electromagnetic field.