{
  "abstract": "Photonic inverse design and, especially, topology optimization, enable dielectric cavities with deeply sub-diffraction mode volumes and high quality factors, thus offering a powerful platform for enhanced light-matter coupling. Here, we design and fabricate arrays of CMOS-compatible silicon cavities on sapphire with extreme subwavelength transverse mode sizes of only 30–40 nm ( $${{\\bf{V}}}{{\\boldsymbol{\\sim }}}{{{\\boldsymbol{\\lambda }}}}^{{{\\boldsymbol{3}}}}/{{\\boldsymbol{2500}}}$$ V ~ λ 3 / 2500 ). These cavities are engineered for deterministic coupling to a monolayer (or few-layer) excitonic material, producing strong near-field localization directly beneath the 2D material. Photoluminescence (PL) measurements show reproducible tenfold raw enhancement relative to bare silicon, which corresponds to a “per-area” normalized enhancement on the order of 10 ³ , accounting for the small area of the deeply subwavelength mode volume, consistent with numerical simulations that account for material absorption and fabrication tolerances. Furthermore, time-resolved PL measurements reveal pronounced lifetime shortening and non-exponential dynamics, indicating cavity-mediated exciton-exciton interactions. The optimized cavity geometry enhances the far-field collection efficiency and supports scalable integration with van der Waals semiconductors. Our results show that the arrays of topology-optimized dielectric cavities are a versatile, scalable platform for controlling excitonic emission and interactions, which creates new opportunities in nonlinear optics, optoelectronics, and quantum photonics.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 17,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Owen Matthiessen"
    },
    {
      "name": "Brandon Triplett",
      "orcid": "0009-0000-9842-5725"
    },
    {
      "name": "Omer Yesilyurt"
    },
    {
      "name": "Davide Cassara",
      "orcid": "0009-0004-4731-6608"
    },
    {
      "name": "Karthik Pagadala"
    },
    {
      "name": "Morris M. Yang"
    },
    {
      "name": "Andres E. Llacsahuanga Allcca"
    },
    {
      "name": "Hamza Ather",
      "orcid": "0009-0003-9482-0199"
    },
    {
      "name": "Colton Fruhling",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8296-8802"
    },
    {
      "name": "Abhishek Bharatbhai Solanki",
      "orcid": "0009-0002-0446-901X"
    },
    {
      "name": "Yong P. Chen"
    },
    {
      "name": "Hadiseh Alaeian",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4549-1870"
    },
    {
      "name": "Alexander V. Kildishev"
    },
    {
      "name": "Vladimir M. Shalaev",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8976-1102"
    },
    {
      "name": "Federico Capasso",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4534-8249"
    },
    {
      "name": "Alexandra Boltasseva",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8905-2605"
    },
    {
      "name": "Vahagn Mkhitaryan",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3138-8488"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/692f84p0x0vzx.bib",
  "cited_by": 1,
  "doi": "10.1038/s41377-026-02436-w",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "692f84p0x0vzx",
  "issns": [
    "2047-7538"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41377-026-02436-w",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2208|Photonic and Optical Devices"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7221506593",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41377-026-02436-w.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-13",
  "publisher": "Springer Science and Business Media LLC",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/692f84p0x0vzx.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:18:08Z",
      "native_id": "10.1038/s41377-026-02436-w",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41377-026-02436-w"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "issn:2047-7538",
      "subfield": "optics-photonics"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Topology-optimized dielectric cavities for enhanced excitonic light emission from WSe2",
  "title_text": "Topology-optimized dielectric cavities for enhanced excitonic light emission from WSe2",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:18:08Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/692f84p0x0vzx",
  "venue": "Light: Science & Applications",
  "versions": []
}