Optically tunable linear and nonlinear enhancement of index of refraction

Abstract: Control of optical properties of materials by tuning their refractive index can revolutionize the current state-of-the-art technology to manipulate light propagation in the high loss media. Here we demonstrate active optical tuning of the plasmonic analog of \textit{enhancement of index of refraction} (EIR) in both linear and nonlinear regimes using a quantum mechanical approach. By employing a pump-probe scheme, we investigate the tuning of refractive index of the probe field by varying amplitude and phase of the pump source. In contrast to classical approach used in \cite{Panahpour2019}, we formulate both first- and second-order quantization to analyze nonlinear enhancement in the refractive index by modulating the response function of probe field. This approach enables indirect tuning of nonlinear modes and coherent control of the probe pulse under the coupling of linear plasmonic modes supported by two L-shaped nano-ellipsoids. Varying the pump amplitude not only shows a significant enhancement in the EIR in both regimes but also effectively suppresses optical losses with zero dispersion at the system's resonance frequency. Additionally, tuning pump phase induces a spectral shift in the frequency of the probe field which open new ways for active tuning of epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) materials. Our approach offers all-optical tuning of nonlinear refractive index which is essential for quantum technological applications. It also provides coherent control of optical properties of plasmonic nanostructures with applications in loss-compensated propagation and zero-index to high-refractive-index plasmonic metamaterials, as well as photonic switches.