Exceptional points for photon pairs bound by nonlinear dissipation in cavity arrays

We study theoretically the dissipative Bose-Hubbard model describing array of tunneling-coupled cavities with non-conservative photon-photon interaction. Our calculation of the complex energy spectrum for the photon pairs reveals exceptional points where the two-photon states bound by nonlinear dissipation are formed. This improves fundamental understanding of the interplay of non-Hermiticity and interactions in the quantum structures and can be potentially used for on-demand nonlinear light generation in photonic lattices.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Direct bandgap silicon quantum dots achieved via electronegative capping

We propose a novel concept of achieving silicon quantum dots with radiative rates enhanced by more than two orders of magnitude up to the values characteristic for direct band gap semiconductors. Our tight-binding simulations show how the surface engineering can dramatically change the density of confined electrons in real- and $k$-space and give rise to the new conduction band levels in $\Gamma$-valley, thus promoting the direct radiative transitions. The effect may be realized by covering the silicon dots with covalently bonded electronegative ligands, such as alkyl or teflon chains and/or by embedding in highly electronegative medium.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures+ Supplementary Material

Optomechanical Kerker effect

Tunable directional scattering is of paramount importance for operation of antennas, routing of light, and design of topologically protected optical states. For visible light scattered on a nanoparticle the directionality could be provided by the Kerker effect, exploiting the interference of electric and magnetic dipole emission patterns. However, magnetic optical resonances in small sub-100-nm particles are relativistically weak. Here, we predict inelastic scattering with the unexpectedly strong tunable directivity up to 5.25 driven by a trembling of small particle without any magnetic resonance. The proposed optomechanical Kerker effect originates from the vibration-induced multipole conversion. We also put forward an optomechanical spin Hall effect, the inelastic polarization-dependent directional scattering. Our results uncover an intrinsically multipolar nature of the interaction between light and mechanical motion. They apply to a variety of systems from cold atoms to two-dimensional materials to superconducting qubits and can be instructive to engineer chiral optomechanical coupling.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, 1 table + Method