2025/07/22 by Liu, Hang, Latini, Simone, Lu, I-Te +2 · 1 citation
#FOS: Physical sciences #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) #Optics (physics.optics)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2507.16992
Structuring the photon density of states and light-matter coupling in optical cavities has emerged as a promising approach to modifying the equilibrium properties of materials through strong light-matter interactions. In this article, we employ state-of-the-art quantum electrodynamical density functional theory (QEDFT) to study the modifications of the electronic and structural properties of two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) layered materials by the cavity vacuum field fluctuations. We find that cavity photons modify the electronic density through localization along the photon polarization directions, a universal effect observed for all the 2D materials studied here. This modification of the electronic structure tunes the material properties, such as the shifting of energy valleys in monolayer h-BN and 2H-MoS2, enabling tunable band gaps. Also, it tunes the interlayer spacing in bilayer 2H-MoS2 and Td-MoTe2, allowing for adjustable ferroelectric, nonlinear Hall effect, and optical properties, as a function of light-matter coupling strength. Our findings open an avenue for engineering a broad range of 2D layered quantum materials by tuning vdW interactions through fluctuating cavity photon fields.