Others have studied strong coupling of light and matter, but with this new process to engineer nanometer-sized version of coaxial cables, we are pushing the frontiers of ultrastrong coupling, which means we are discovering new quantum states where matter and light can have very different properties and unusual things start to happen," said Sang-Hyun Oh, a University of Minnesota professor of electrical and computer engineering and the senior author of the study. "This ultrastrong coupling of light and atomic vibrations opens up all kinds of possibilities for developing new quantum-based devices or modifying chemical reactions."
The interaction between light and matter is central to life on earth -- it allows plants to convert sunlight into energy and it allows us to see objects around us. Infrared light, with wavelengths much longer than what we can see with our eyes, interacts with the vibrations of atoms in materials. For example, when an object is heated, the atoms that make up the object start vibrating faster, giving off more infrared radiation, enabling thermal-imaging or night-vision cameras.
Conversely, the wavelengths of infrared radiation that are absorbed by materials depend on what kinds of atoms make up the materials and how they are arranged, so that chemists can use infrared absorption as a "how much does a computer engineer make" to identify different chemicals.
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