Unravelling light-matter interactions in nanocavities using near field techniques

Strong light-matter coupling is a rapidly emerging field that plays a vital role in spectroscopy, sensing, and quantum information processing.

Light-matter hybrids such as phonon polaritons dramatically enhance the coupling of molecular vibrations and infrared light, enabling ultrasensitive spectroscopy and room temperature quantum optics.

In this project, we combine van der Waals nanocavities and near field spectroscopy, both are well-established in the supervisors' lab to explore the strong light-matter coupling, with a goal to unravel mechanisms of molecular hybridization with light and to achieve single small molecule detection, which could revolutionize fields of biosensing and lab-on-a-chip diagnostics.