アイテム詳細

要旨

Cavitronics—a portmanteau of cavity and electronics —are devices with certain properties that can be controlled by the light waves bouncing inside the cavity in which the device sits. In quantum mechanical terms, this interaction between light and matter is done by the standing light waves inside the cavity known as vacuum field states. A major advantage of this setup for generating light-matter coupling is the ability to induce certain properties inside a material that otherwise require the use of a strong external electric or magnetic field (see the image). On page 1030 of this issue, Appugliese et al. (1) provide a special case of cavitronics. Their experimental setup modifies one of the most prominent quantum phenomena in materials, known as the quantum Hall effect (QHE). They found a drastic change in its Hall resistance, opening the path to designing materials functionalities by vacuum-field engineering.