Ultrasmall Mode Volume Hyperbolic Nanocavities for Enhanced Light-Matter Interaction at the Nanoscale

Cavities are the building blocks for multiple photonic applications from linear to nonlinear optics and from classical optics to quantum electrodynamics. Hyperbolic metamaterial cavities are one class of optical cavities that have recently been realized and shown to possess desirable characteristics such as engineered refractive indices and ultrasmall mode volumes, both beneficial for enhancement of light-matter interactions at the nanoscale. We hereby report the design, fabrication, and experimental characterization of nanoscale hyperbolic metamaterial cavities at the visible frequency. We show experimentally that these nanocavities enhance the light-matter interaction at the nanoscale and demonstrate increased photonic density of states and enhanced free space radiation efficiency of quantum dots coupled to such cavities, thus demonstrating the importance of hyperbolic metamaterial cavities for applications in solid-state light sources, quantum technologies, and cavity quantum electrodynamics.