Microcavity polaritons are composite half-light half-matter quasiparticles, which have recently been demonstrated to exhibit rich physical properties, such as non-equilibrium condensation, parametric ...scattering and superfluidity. At the same time, polaritons have important advantages over photons for information processing, because their excitonic component leads to weaker diffraction and stronger interparticle interactions, implying, respectively, tighter localization and lower powers for nonlinear functionality. Here, we present the first experimental observations of bright polariton solitons in a strongly coupled semiconductor microcavity. The polariton solitons are shown to be micrometre-scale localized non-diffracting wave packets with a corresponding broad spectrum in momentum space. Unlike the solitons known in Bose condensed atomic gases, they are non-equilibrium and rely on a balance between losses and external pumping. Microcavity polariton solitons are excited on picosecond timescales, and thus have further benefits for information processing over light-only solitons in semiconductor cavity lasers, which have nanosecond response times.
We report on the spin properties of bright polariton solitons supported by an external pump to compensate losses. We observe robust circularly polarized solitons when a circularly polarized pump is ...applied, a result attributed to phase synchronization between nondegenerate TE and TM polarized polariton modes at high momenta. For the case of a linearly polarized pump, either σ+ or σ- circularly polarized bright solitons can be switched on in a controlled way by a σ+ or σ- writing beam, respectively. This feature arises directly from the widely differing interaction strengths between co- and cross-circularly polarized polaritons. In the case of orthogonally linearly polarized pump and writing beams, the soliton emission on average is found to be unpolarized, suggesting strong spatial evolution of the soliton polarization. The observed results are in agreement with theory, which predicts stable circularly polarized solitons and unstable linearly polarized solitons.
We report propagating bound microcavity polariton soliton arrays consisting of multipeak structures either along (x) or perpendicular (y) to the direction of propagation. Soliton arrays of up to five ...solitons are observed, with the number of solitons controlled by the size and power of the triggering laser pulse. The breakup along the x direction occurs when the effective area of the trigger pulse exceeds the characteristic soliton size determined by polariton-polariton interactions. Narrowing of soliton emission in energy-momentum space indicates phase locking between adjacent solitons, consistent with numerical modeling which predicts stable multihump soliton solutions. In the y direction, the breakup originates from inhomogeneity across the wave front in the transverse direction which develops into a stable array only in the solitonic regime via phase-dependent interactions of propagating fronts.
We demonstrate that the tunable potential introduced by a surface acoustic wave on a homogeneous polariton condensate leads to fragmentation of the condensate into an array of wires which move with ...the acoustic velocity. Reduction of the spatial coherence of the condensate emission along the surface acoustic wave direction is attributed to the suppression of coupling between the spatially modulated condensates. Interparticle interactions observed at high polariton densities screen the acoustic potential, partially reversing its effect on spatial coherence.
We report on the two-dimensional gap-soliton nature of exciton-polariton macroscopic coherent phases (PMCP) in a square lattice with a tunable amplitude. The resonantly excited PMCP forms close to ...the negative mass M point of the lattice band structure with energy within the lattice band gap and its wave function localized within a few lattice periods. The PMCPs are well described as gap solitons resulting from the interplay between repulsive polariton-polariton interactions and effective attractive forces due to the negative mass. The solitonic nature accounts for the reduction of the PMCP coherence length and optical excitation threshold with increasing lattice amplitude.
Exciton-polariton systems can sustain macroscopic quantum states (MQSs) under a periodic potential modulation. In this paper, we investigate the structure of these states in acoustic square lattices ...by probing their wave functions in real and momentum spaces using spectral tomography. We show that the polariton MQSs, when excited by a Gaussian laser beam, self-organize in a concentric structure, consisting of a single, two-dimensional gap-soliton (GS) state surrounded by one dimensional (1D) MQSs with lower energy. The latter form at hyperbolical points of the modulated polariton dispersion. While the size of the GS tends to saturate with increasing particle density, the emission region of the surrounding 1D states increases. The existence of these MQSs in acoustic lattices is quantitatively supported by a theoretical model based on the variational solution of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. The formation of the 1D states in a ring around the central GS is attributed to the energy gradient in this region, which reduces the overall symmetry of the lattice. The results broaden the experimental understanding of self-localized polariton states, which may prove relevant for functionalities exploiting solitonic objects.
Quantum fluids of light in acoustic lattices Cerda-Méndez, E A; Krizhanovskii, D N; Skolnick, M S ...
Journal of physics. D, Applied physics,
01/2018, Letnik:
51, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
In this topical review, we report on the recent advances on the manipulation of hybrid light-matter quasi-particles called exciton-polaritons and their quantum condensed phases by means of acoustic ...and static periodic potentials. Polaritons are a superposition of photons and excitons and form in optical microcavities with quantum wells embedded in it. They are low-mass bosons in the dilute limit and have strong inter-particle interactions inherited from the excitonic component. Their capability to form quantum-condensed phases at temperatures in the kelvin range and to behave like quantum fluids makes them very attractive for novel solid-state devices. Since their de Broglie wavelength is of the order of a few micrometers, polaritons can be manipulated using static or dynamic potentials with micrometer scales. We present here a summary of the techniques used to submit polaritons and their condensed phases to periodic potentials, with an emphasis in dynamic ones produced by surface acoustic waves. We discuss the interesting phenomena that occur under such a modulation, such as condensation in excited states of the Brillouin zone, fragmentation of a condensate, formation of self-localized wavepackets, and Dirac and massive polaritons in static hexagonal and kagome lattices, respectively. The different techniques explored open the way to implement polariton-based quantum simulators, nano-optomechanic resonators and polaritonic topological insulators.
We study the spatial coherence of polariton condensates subjected to coherent modulation by a one-dimensional tunable acoustic potential. We use an interferometric technique to measure the amplitude ...and phase of the macroscopic condensate wavefunction. By increasing the acoustic modulation amplitude, we track the transition from the extended wavefunction of the unperturbed condensate to a regime where the wavefunction is spatially modulated and then to a fully confined regime, where independent condensates form at the minima of the potential with negligible particle tunneling between adjacent sites.
In the present work, we were able to identify and characterize a source of in-plane optical anisotropies (IOAs) occurring in asymmetric double quantum wells (DQWs), namely a reduction of the symmetry ...from D2d to C2v as imposed by asymmetry along the growth direction. We report on reflectance anisotropy spectroscopy (RAS) of double GaAs quantum well structures coupled by a thin (< 2 nm) tunneling barrier. Two groups of DQW systems were studied: one where both QWs have the same thickness (symmetric DQW) and another where they have different thicknesses (asymmetric DQW). RAS measures the IOAs arising from the intermixing of the heavy and light holes in the valence band when the symmetry of the DQW system is lowered from D2d to C2v. If the DQW is symmetric, residual IOAs stem from the asymmetry of the QW interfaces, e.g., that associated with Ga segregation into the AlGaAs layer during the epitaxial growth process. In the case of an asymmetric DQW with QWs with different thicknesses, the AlGaAs layers (that are sources of anisotropies) are not distributed symmetrically at both sides of the tunneling barrier. Thus the system loses its inversion symmetry, yielding an increase in the RAS strength. The RAS line shapes were compared with reflectance spectra in order to assess the heavy- and light-hole mixing induced by the symmetry breakdown. The energies of the optical transitions were calculated by numerically solving the one-dimensional Schrödinger equation using a finite-difference method. Our results are useful for interpretation of the transitions occurring in both symmetric and asymmetric DQWs
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