Our paper on cavity materials – how to manipulate matter with pure vacuum fluctuations of light – was published in Science Advances. Here is the press release.
The vacuum fluctuations of light (yellow wave) are amplified in an optical cavity (upper and lower reflecting mirrors). Crystal lattice vibrations (red atoms) at a two-dimensional interface surf this strong light wave. The thus mixed light-vibrational waves couple particularly strongly to electrons in a two-dimensional atomically thin material (green and yellow atoms), changing its properties.
© Jörg M. Harms / MPSD