How fast can light and matter be made to interact ? ’Almost instantaneously’ is the answer provided in the latest study of semiconductor structures embedded in an optical microcavity :
Sub-cycle switch-on of ultrastrong light–matter interaction, Nature 458, 178-181 (12 March 2009), accompanied by a News and Views article, and by an editorial summary.
This work is the result of a collaboration between the group of ultrafast spectroscopy Terahertz spectroscopie in Konstanz (Germany), two groups of semiconductor physics in Italy and the theory group of Laboratoire Matériaux et Phénomènes Quantiques at Université Paris Diderot.
For additional information, please contact :
cristiano.ciuti@univ-paris-diderot.fr