Voltage-Controlled Switching of Strong Light-Matter Interactions using Liquid Crystals

Journal article, 2017

We experimentally demonstrate a fine control over the coupling strength of vibrational light-matter hybrid states by controlling the orientation of a nematic liquid crystal. Through an external voltage, the liquid crystal is seamlessly switched between two orthogonal directions. Using these features, for the first time, we demonstrate electrical switching and increased Rabi splitting through transition dipole moment alignment. The C-N-str vibration on the liquid crystal molecule is coupled to a cavity mode, and FT-IR is used to probe the formed vibro-polaritonic states. A switching ratio of the Rabi splitting of 1.78 is demonstrated between the parallel and the perpendicular orientation. Furthermore, the orientational order increases the Rabi splitting by 41% as compared to an isotropic liquid. Finally, by examining the influence of molecular alignment on the Rabi splitting, the scalar product used in theoretical modeling between light and matter in the strong coupling regime is verified.