摘要：

In systems of reduced dimensionality containing metals as constituent building blocks, the pertinent conduction electrons are quantum mechanically confined, and their collective excited states of motion are termed plasmons. Recent research has witnessed intensive efforts on exploiting the rich quantum nature of plasmonic excitations in a wide variety of systems and processes, including photon entanglement, solar energy harvesting, electron dephasing, and catalysis, to name a few. In this talk, we will briefly review situations where the quantum nature of plasmons is bound to play a vital role. Then we will use a few recent examples to demonstrate how quantum plasmonics can be exploited to enhance the overall performance of low-dimensional heterostructures for optimal functionalities. Our first example is the enhanced energy transfer between plasmons and excitons in the strongly coupled regime known as plexcitons. The next example is the demonstration and understanding of drastically enhanced phase coherence of the electron transport in graphene proximity coupled with a plasmonic system. The third example is drawn from our recent studies of emergent plasmonic excitations in hybrid two-dimensional Dirac electrons of graphene and three-dimensional topological insulator. Time permitting, we will show in the last example how plasmons can join force with phonons in enhancing the superconducting transition temperatures of interfacial superconductors and beyond.