Polaromechanics: polaritonics meets optomechanics

Abstract

Cavity exciton polariton physics and cavity optomechanics have evolved into mature and active domains with, so far, very little connections between them. We argue here that there are strong reasons to bridge the two fields, opening interesting opportunities. Polaritons are entities sharing the properties of photons and excitons in a controllable way. They can lead to tunable and strongly enhanced optomechanical couplings and, through them, to single-particle cooperativies C0 > 1 as well as ultra-strong optomechanical coupling in the many-particle regime. Besides, exciton-exciton Coulomb interactions define a new regime of non-linear many-body optomechanics with notable and largely unexplored consequences. Conversely, coherent vibrations can add a qualitatively distinct ingredient to the field of polaritonics by introducing the variable of time. Indeed, the mechanics built-in in polariton resonators allows for controllable time-modulation up to frequencies of tens of GHz with important consequences for the control of quantum emitters and bidirectional optical-to-microwave conversion. Most interestingly, it also enables polaritons to access Floquet physics, Landau-Zenner-Stückelberg state preparation, spinor pseudo-magnetic resonance, as well as optomechanically induced non-reciprocal phenomena. This guest-editorial addresses the opportunities and challenges in these emerging field.