Approach to enhance optical absorption and emission rates in molecular and semiconducting systems through momentum-matching enabled by the confinement of photons

Abstract

The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle reveals a fundamental link between a particle's position (Δx) and momentum (Δp) as Δx~ℏ/2·Δp., suggesting that photons confined to sub-nanometer scales can attain momentum comparable to electrons in solid materials. Our preliminary experiments confirm that photons can indeed achieve significant momentum. With considerable energy and momentum, photons can facilitate transitions in materials previously considered momentum forbidden, such as in indirect band gap semiconductors like silicon. Here, transitions require both photons (for energy) and lattice phonons (for momentum). Our findings show that a photon with high momentum can increase the optical transition rate in silicon by up to four orders of magnitude. This discovery opens new avenues for enhancing the efficiency of light detection, emission, and solar energy conversion in both indirect and direct semiconductor systems.

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