Design of Plasmon Cavities for Solid-State Cavity QED Applications

Research on photonic cavities with low mode volume and high quality factor garners much attention because of applications ranging from optoelectronics to cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED). We propose a cavity based on surface plasmon modes confined by metallic distributed Bragg reflectors. We analyze the structure with Finite Difference Time Domain simulations and obtain modes with quality factor 1000 (including losses from metals), reduced mode volume relative to photonic crystal cavities, Purcell enhancements of hundreds, and even the capability of enabling cavity QED strong coupling.