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Optics Express

Ultrastrong slow light in a metal nanoshell-semiconductor quantum dot-cell membrane hybrid system

Hong-Mei Gong, Lin-Wen Long, Xiao Ma, Jian-Bo Li

Published Aug 31, 2026• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We propose a scheme for achieving ultrastrong slow light in a hybrid nanosystem consisting of a metallic nanoshell (MNS), a semiconductor quantum dot (SQD), and a cell membrane. The MNS is composed of a metallic inner core and a dielectric outer shell. We derive the analytical expressions for the linear susceptibility and group velocity index under the multipole approximation. It is shown that the amplitudes and positions of the absorption peaks, as well as the group velocity index, depend strongly on the exciton-pump detuning, MNS-SQD distance, dielectric shell thickness, and exciton-phonon coupling strength. Especially, the amplitude of the characteristic absorption peak associated with the cell membrane can be enhanced by over 2200 times by only tuning the exciton-phonon coupling strength within an extremely narrow range. In an intermediate exciton-phonon coupling regime, the group velocity index rises abruptly from 86.13 to 2.87 × 10 11 with the pump intensity varied from 10 GHz 2 to 22.41 GHz 2 . Furthermore, we demonstrate that the precise monitoring of the cellular carcinogenesis degree can be realized by detecting the fast-to-slow light switching point, with the corresponding proportion of cancerous cells as low as 1.71%. Our findings exhibit broad application prospects in optical signal amplifiers and biosensors.

DOI
10.1364/oe.603751

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We propose a scheme for achieving ultrastrong slow light in a hybrid nanosystem consisting of a metallic nanoshell (MNS), a semiconductor quantum dot (SQD), and a cell membrane. The MNS is composed of a metallic inner core and a dielectric outer shell. We derive the analytical expressions for the linear susceptibility and group velocity index under the multipole approximation. It is shown that the amplitudes and positions of the absorption peaks, as well as the group velocity index, depend strongly on the exciton-pump detuning, MNS-SQD distance, dielectric shell thickness, and exciton-phonon coupling strength. Especially, the amplitude of the characteristic absorption peak associated with the cell membrane can be enhanced by over 2200 times by only tuning the exciton-phonon coupling strength within an extremely narrow range. In an intermediate exciton-phonon coupling regime, the group velocity index rises abruptly from 86.13 to 2.87 × 10 11 with the pump intensity varied from 10 GHz 2 to 22.41 GHz 2 . Furthermore, we demonstrate that the precise monitoring of the cellular carcinogenesis degree can be realized by detecting the fast-to-slow light switching point, with the corresponding proportion of cancerous cells as low as 1.71%. Our findings exhibit broad application prospects in optical signal amplifiers and biosensors.
We develop a theory to investigate Kerr nonlinearity in a hybrid nanosystem integrating a semiconductor quantum dot (SQD), a metallic nanoshell (MNS) consisting of a metallic inner core and a dielectric outer shell, and a cell membrane. Beyond the dipole approximation, an analytical expression for the Kerr coefficient is derived, with key findings as follows: (1) The multipole effect enables a significant enhancement of the Kerr coefficient compared to the dipole approximation scenario, whereas increasing the spacing between the SQD and the MNS leads to substantial suppression of this coefficient; (2) The Kerr spectrum can be switched from a two-peaked to a three-peaked structure solely by tuning the exciton-phonon coupling strength; (3) The heights, positions, and full widths at half maximum (FWHM) of the two sideband peaks in the Kerr spectrum exhibit high sensitivity to both pumping intensity and dielectric shell thickness. Importantly, we demonstrate the feasibility of detecting the initiation of normal cell carcinogenesis by monitoring the heights, locations, and frequency shifts of these two sideband peaks. The proposed scheme exhibits promising applications in quantum information networks and biosensing.
We investigate optical bistability (OB) in a hybrid system comprising a semiconductor quantum dot (SQD), a metallic nanoshell (MNS), and a cell membrane within the framework of the multipole approximation. Bistability phase diagrams plotted in the system’s parameter subspaces demonstrate that, in the weak exciton–phonon coupling regime, dynamic switching of bistable states among no-channel, single-channel, and dual-channel configurations can be achieved via precise modulation of the MNS’s dielectric shell thickness. Especially, a critical sensing threshold is identified: the absorption peak disappears and a bistable effect emerges when only 1.82% of normal cells undergo malignant transformation. Furthermore, the bistable region exhibits a gradual broadening trend with an increasing proportion of cancerous cells, yielding a quantitative and ultra-sensitive readout that underpins a highly accurate strategy for early cancer diagnosis. These findings not only deepen our fundamental understanding of bistability regulation in hybrid quantum-plasmonic systems interfaced with biological materials but also offer valuable insights for the development of next-generation optical switches and biomedical sensing platforms.
A slow light effect in a hybrid nanocrystal complex composed of a semiconductor quantum dot (SQD) and a metal nanoparticle (MNP) is investigated theoretically. It is shown that a hole induced by coherent population oscillation appears at the absorption spectrum of the probe when an exciton and plasmon interact. Then a slow light effect may become possible. The numerical results further indicate that the slow light effect is greatly modified by the distance between the SQD and the MNP due to the coupling of the exciton and plasmon. For experimental conditions, the group velocity indexes with Gauss distribution and Lorenz distribution of the distance between the SQD and the MNP are evaluated. It is found that for small dispersion, almost the same values of the group velocity index can be obtained in these different distributions.
In this study, we investigate the linear optical response in a hybrid nanostructure composed of a semiconductor quantum dot and a metal shell nanoparticle. We analyze a case wherein the nanostructure interacts with an incident electromagnetic field with polarization parallel to the symmetry axis of the nanosystem. We derive nonlinear density matrix equations in the rotating wave approximation under the quasistatic response of the system, and use a series expansion method to obtain analytical functions for linear susceptibility with respect to both components of the nanostructure. The imaginary part of these expressions is related to the absorption coefficient. We investigate the way in which the modification of the core’s material affects the characteristics of the spectral resonance. For low values of the dielectric constant, the system exhibits amplified gain without population inversion and quenched absorption resonance, while for high values of the dielectric constant, we observe suppression of the gain dip and enhancement of the absorption resonance. In the first regime, the exciton lifetime is suppressed, and in the second case, its value is importantly increased, especially in the case of small interparticle distances where the semiconductor quantum dot and metal shell nanoparticle interact strongly.
We theoretically explore the conditions for generating optical bistability (OB) in a heterodimer comprised of a semiconductor quantum dot (SQD) and a metallic nanoshell (MNS). The MNS is made of a metallic nanosphere as a core and a dielectric material as a shell. For the specific hybrid system considered, the bistable effect appears only if the frequency of the pump field is equal to (or slightly less than) the exciton frequency for a proper shell thickness. Bistability phase diagrams, when plotted, show that the dipole-induced bistable region can be greatly broadened by changing the shell thickness of the MNS in a strong exciton-plasmon coupling regime. In particular, we demonstrate that the multipole polarization not only narrows the bistable zone but also enlarges the corresponding thresholds for a given intermediate scaled pumping intensity. On the other hand, when the SQD couples strongly with the MNS, the multipole polarization can also significantly broaden the bistable region and induce a great suppression of the FWM (four-wave mixing) signal for a fixed shell thickness. These interesting findings offer a fresh understanding of the bistability conditions in an SQD/MNS heterodimer, and may be useful in the fabrication of high-performance and low-threshold optical bistable nanodevices.
We study optical effects in a hybrid system composed of a semiconductor quantum dot (SQD) and a spherical metal nanoparticle (MNP) that interacts with a weak probe and a strong pump electromagnetic field. We use modified nonlinear density matrix equations for the description of the optical properties of the system and calculate, numerically, the first-order susceptibilities of the SQD, the MNP, and the total hybrid nanostructure of the probe field in the presence of the pump field. We investigate the dependence of the probe absorption and dispersion spectra of the SQD, the MNP, and the total nanostructure on the interparticle distance and the detuning of the pump field, and stress the influence of the MNP contribution to the total optical response. The results we find are explained according to the theory of two distinct metastates, which constitute conjugations of the SQD excitonic and the MNP plasmonic excitations. We also show that the optical response strongly depends on the actual values of the SQD material parameters.