Sodium metals for single emitter strong coupling:Alternative plasmonic candidates beyond noble metals

This work provides a theoretical investigation into the strong coupling between a single quantum emitter(QE)and the surface plasmons of sodium metals in two representative plasmonic systems,i.e.,the semi-infinite metal-dielectric interface and the metal nanoparticles(NPs)of monomer/dimer configuration.In both configurations,sodium metals exhibit distinctly stronger coupling strength and lower optical loss in the optical region than their noble metal counterparts,demonstrating the ideal candidate characteristics for single-molecule-level strong couplings with distinctly facile operation conditions.Our results provide new insights into extreme light-matter interactions with potential applications in quantum information,optical sensors,quantum chemistry,etc.