Lecture 7 Light-Matter Interaction

Part 1
Basic excitation and coupling
EECS 598-002 Winter 2006
Nanophotonics and Nano-scale Fabrication
P.C.Ku

What we have learned?

Nanophotonics studies the interaction of photons and

matters (including electrons, nuclei, phonons, plasmons,
excitons, and etc.)

(r)

Uncertainty principle
and quantization

How the EM wave interacts with

a medium with known (r)?
EECS 598-002 Nanophotonics and Nanoscale Fabrication by P.C.Ku

Schedule for the rest of the semester

Introduction to light-matter interaction (today):

Basic excitations and measurement of (r). (1/31)

Structure dependence of (r) overview (2/2)
Surface effects (2/7 & 2/9):

Surface EM wave
Surface polaritons
Size dependence

Case studies (2/14 2/21):

How to determine (r)?

The relationship to basic excitations.

Quantum wells, wires, and dots

Nanophotonics in microscopy
Nanophotonics in plasmonics

Dispersion engineering (2/23 3/9):

Material dispersion
Waveguide dispersion (photonic crystals)

EECS 598-002 Nanophotonics and Nanoscale Fabrication by P.C.Ku

How to determine (r)?

As a simplest example for metals, if we could treat the

electron and the ion classically using Newtons Laws and
the movement of electrons and ions follows the incoming
electric field linearly:
mx + m x = qEi e it
qEi e it
x=
m ( 2 + i )
p2 ( i )
nq 2 ( i )
= 0 + P / E = 0 nqx / E = 0
0 1

2
2
2
2
m ( + )
( + )
If  , i

p2

( 2 + 2 )

p2
If  , 0 1 2

Highly absorptive
Real & positive if > p

EECS 598-002 Nanophotonics and Nanoscale Fabrication by P.C.Ku

What happens at p?
T

p
p
Without interaction with external EM field:
If the electron density changes slightly from its equilibrium: n = n0 + n1
K
There will be an induced electric field: E = e(n n0 )
K ( en )
The continuity equation: (-env ) +
=0
t
K
K
Newton's law: eE = mv
If there is no field when n1 = 0, we get

n1
+ p2 n1 = 0
2
t
2

EECS 598-002 Nanophotonics and Nanoscale Fabrication by P.C.Ku

SHO for electron

density fluctuation
at p
5

Plasmons

p or p:
In metals: ~100nm
In semiconductors: ~1m

EECS 598-002 Nanophotonics and Nanoscale Fabrication by P.C.Ku

Interaction between light and matter

In reality, however, we cannot treat microscopic physics

with Newtons Laws.

But without going into details, we can make a few

observations just by simple physical intuition.

Despite of the need for QM, from the example in metals,

we can still treat the interaction between light and matter
as the coupling between two harmonic oscillators.

EECS 598-002 Nanophotonics and Nanoscale Fabrication by P.C.Ku

Conservation of energy and momentum

E1,P1
Ef,Pf

E1 + E2 = E f
K K K
P1 + P2 = Pf

E2,P2

=2k 2
E=
for massive particles (electrons, etc.)
2m
or = for massless particles (photons, phonons, etc.)
K
K
P = =k

EECS 598-002 Nanophotonics and Nanoscale Fabrication by P.C.Ku

Conservation conditions

Conservation of energy and momentum b/w the initial and

final states.

The final state must exist! (The interaction, however, can

go through one or more intermediate states which can be
virtual.)

In addition, if the interaction has rotational symmetry (i.e.

it depends only on r e.g. the Coulomb interaction), the
angular momentum must also be conserved selection
rule.

We have also learned the electric charge is a conserved

quantity.

EECS 598-002 Nanophotonics and Nanoscale Fabrication by P.C.Ku

Fermis golden rule

The discussions above can be described quantitatively by

the Fermis golden rule which results from the lowestorder contribution from the time-dependent perturbation
theory.
w=

2
=

f HI i

g ( E f ) ( E ( E f Ei ))

Energy conservation
Final state must exist
Momentum conservation
and selection rule
EECS 598-002 Nanophotonics and Nanoscale Fabrication by P.C.Ku

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Time-dependent perturbation theory

First order

Second order

EECS 598-002 Nanophotonics and Nanoscale Fabrication by P.C.Ku

11

Framework of the calculation for (r)

Near resonance, the first order dominates.

But if far away from the resonance, we need to include

the second order effect (i.e. one intermediate state). This
makes the QM calculation of the entire dispersion curve
rather tedious.

In most of the cases, the determination of only the

imaginary part of (r) is much simpler. It relates to only a
few resonances. We will prove in the following simply by
knowing Im((r)) allows us to determine the entire Re((r))
without going through any lengthy QM calculations.

EECS 598-002 Nanophotonics and Nanoscale Fabrication by P.C.Ku

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Kramers-Kronig relation

Because the dielectric function represents a response of

the matter to the incoming EM field and any physical
response should be causal (nothing happens before the
cause), () satisfies the Karmers-Kronig relation as
follows:

Im [ ( ')]
' Im [ ( ')]
2
Re [ ( )] = 0 + Pr
d ' = 0 + Pr
d '
2
2
'
0 '

Re [ ( ') ] 0
Im [ ( ) ] =
Pr
d '
2
2

'
0
2

For the derivation of the Kramers-Kronig relation, please refer to J. D. Jackson,

Classical Electrodynamics 2nd ed., section 7.10 (c).

EECS 598-002 Nanophotonics and Nanoscale Fabrication by P.C.Ku

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Example of a sharp resonance

Im [ ( ) ] = ( 0 )
Re [ ( ) ] = 0 +

' Im [ ( ')]
d '
2
2
'
0

Pr

' ( ' 0 )
d '
2
2

'

2 0
Re()
= 0 +
02 2
= 0 +

Pr

EECS 598-002 Nanophotonics and Nanoscale Fabrication by P.C.Ku

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Conservation of E & P revisited

photon
optical phonon

k
For resonance (excitation) to happen, two dispersion
curves must intersect one another.

EECS 598-002 Nanophotonics and Nanoscale Fabrication by P.C.Ku

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Coupling of two classical harmonic oscillators

Please refer to S. L. Chuang, Physics of Optoelectronic
Devices, section 8.2.

EECS 598-002 Nanophotonics and Nanoscale Fabrication by P.C.Ku

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(r) for an ensemble of harmonic oscillators

mx + m x = kx qEi e it m02 x qEi e it
qEi e it
x=
m ( 2 02 ) + i

p2
nq 2
= 0 + P / E = 0 nqx / E = 0
= 0 1 2

2
2
2

i
(
)

m ( 0 ) + i

p2
/2
If 0 , Im
0 ( 0 )2 + ( / 2)2

p2
0
Re 0 1
2
2

+
2)

2
(
)
(
/

0
0

EECS 598-002 Nanophotonics and Nanoscale Fabrication by P.C.Ku

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Polariton dispersion relation

Polaritons are mixtures (coupling) of photons and

harmonic oscillators in the media.

p2
k2
= 0 1 2
= 2
2
( 0 ) + i 0
when = 0

2 ( +
k = 2
c 2 02
2

2
0

2
p

Photons
In free space

02 + p2

k
EECS 598-002 Nanophotonics and Nanoscale Fabrication by P.C.Ku

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