Nanowerk October 3, 2023
Researchers in the UK have proposed a new way of using quantum light to ‘see’ quantum sound. They showed that the second-order, two-time correlation functions for phonons and photons emitted from a vibronic molecule in a thermal bath resulted in bunching and antibunching (a purely quantum effect), respectively. Signatures relating to phonon exchange with the environment were revealed in photon-photon correlations. They demonstrated that cross-correlation functions have a strong dependence on the order of detection giving insight into how phonon dynamics influences the emission of light. It is hoped that the discovery may help scientists better understand the interactions between light and matter on molecular scales. It may pave the way for addressing fundamental questions about the importance of quantum effects in applications ranging from new quantum technologies to biological systems, and offers new opportunities to investigate quantum effects in condensed-phase molecular systems… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
(a) Schematic of the molecule coupled to bath modes and driven by laser field
EI… Credit: Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 143601, 2 October 2023