Coherent Coupling of WS2 Monolayers with Metallic Photonic Nanostructures at Room Temperature

Room temperature strong coupling of WS2 monolayer exciton transitions to metallic Fabry–Pérot and plasmonic optical cavities is demonstrated. A Rabi splitting of 101 meV is observed for the Fabry–Pérot cavity. The enhanced magnitude and visibility of WS2 monolayer strong coupling is attributed to the larger absorption coefficient, the narrower line width of the A exciton transition, and greater spin–orbit coupling. For WS2 coupled to plasmonic arrays, the Rabi splitting still reaches 60 meV despite the less favorable coupling conditions, and displays interesting photoluminescence features. The unambiguous signature of WS2 monolayer strong coupling in easily fabricated metallic resonators at room temperature suggests many possibilities for combining light–matter hybridization with spin and valleytronics.