Anael Ben-Asher is a postdoctoral researcher at the Autonomous University of Madrid. She obtained her Ph.D. from the Technion in Haifa, Israel in 2021. Her research interests are non-Hermitian formalism of quantum mechanics, quantum light-matter interactions, and molecular physics.
Host University: Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain
Host research group or department: Condensed Matter Physics Center - IFIMAC
Co-host University: Stockholm University, Sweden
Secondment institution: Stockholm University, Sweden
Advisor: Dr. Johannes Feist
Co-advisor: Dr. Markus Kowalewski
Secondment mentor: Prof. Michael Odelius
My research
Nanophotonics at Exceptional Points
Nanophotonics provides control over light-matter interactions with degrees of freedom far exceeding that of conventional refractive optics. In this work, we exploit non-Hermitian concepts in order to discover new phenomena in nanophotonic devices. Within non-Hermitian formalisms, a unique degeneracy, named Exceptional Point (EP), can emerge. The appearance of EPs triggers exciting phenomena discovered recently across different areas of physics, e.g., in photonics, acoustics, phononics, electronics, and atomic physics. While most of the non-Hermitian photonic systems presenting EPs exploited the formal equivalence between the Schrödinger Equation and Maxwell’s Equations in the paraxial approximation, we will use a new framework that is based on subwavelength cavity quantum electrodynamics in order to reveal the compelling effects of EPs in nanophotonic systems. In a significant advancement beyond the current state-of-the-art, an emphasis in this work will be on the exploration of higher-order EPs, predicted to exhibit particularly strong non-linear light-matter interactions. Furthermore, through the emergence of distinct classical and quantum nonlinearities, a detailed study of their dramatically enhanced light-matter coupling effects will be possible, paving the way to further improvements in sensing and information processing technologies.
Date started – Date End
01.11.2022 - 31.10.2024
