title: Photoswitchable Rabi Splitting in Hybrid Plasmon-Waveguide Modes.
abstract: Rabi splitting that arises from strong plasmon-molecule coupling has attracted tremendous interests. However, it has remained elusive to integrate Rabi splitting into the hybrid plasmon-waveguide modes (HPWMs), which have advantages of both subwavelength light confinement of surface plasmons and long-range propagation of guided modes in dielectric waveguides. Herein, we explore a new type of HPWMs based on hybrid systems of Al nanodisk arrays covered by PMMA thin films that are doped with photochromic molecules and demonstrate the photoswitchable Rabi splitting with a maximum splitting energy of 572 meV in the HPWMs by controlling the photoisomerization of the molecules. Through our experimental measurements combined with finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations, we reveal that the photoswitchable Rabi splitting arises from the switchable coupling between the HPWMs and molecular excitons. By harnessing the photoswitchable Rabi splitting, we develop all-optical light modulators and rewritable waveguides. The demonstration of Rabi splitting in the HPWMs will further advance scientific research and device applications of hybrid plasmon-molecule systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas 78712, United States.|Materials Science & Engineering Program and Texas Materials Institute, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas 78712, United States.
authors.forename: Linhan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas 78712, United States.
authors.forename: Mingsong
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas 78712, United States.
authors.forename: Xiaoling
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Materials Science & Engineering Program and Texas Materials Institute, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas 78712, United States.
authors.forename: Xiaolei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas 78712, United States.
authors.forename: Chong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas 78712, United States.|Materials Science & Engineering Program and Texas Materials Institute, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas 78712, United States.
authors.forename: Yuebing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zheng
keywords: Rabi splitting; all-optical modulation; hybrid plasmon−waveguide modes; photoisomerization; plasmon−exciton coupling; rewritable waveguides