We report the existence, and study mobility and interactions of gap polariton solitons in a microcavity with a periodic potential, where the light field is strongly coupled to excitons. Gap solitons are formed due to the interplay between the repulsive exciton-exciton interaction and cavity dispersion. The analysis is carried out in an analytical form, using the coupled-mode (CM) approximation, and also by means of numerical methods.
We investigate a new kind of dark solitons and vortices that can exist in the exciton-polariton condensates. These structures have discontinuity in the excitonic part of the polaritonic field and exist due to an intrinsic multiplicity of the solutions for the exciton density in the given optical field. Reported solutions are characterized by two very distinct localization scales, and hence are coined as dual-core dark solitons and vortices.
We report on the spin properties of bright polariton solitons supported by an external pump to compensate losses. We observe robust circularly polarised solitons when a circularly polarised pump is applied, a result attributed to phase synchronisation between nondegenerate TE and TM polarised polariton modes at high momenta. For the case of a linearly polarised pump either s+ or s- circularly polarised bright solitons can be switched on in a controlled way by a s+ or s- writing beam respectively. This feature arises directly from the widely differing interaction strengths between co- and cross…
We predict that strong coupling between waveguide photons and excitons of quantum well embedded into waveguide results in the formation of hybrid dark and anti-dark light-matter solitons. Such temporal solitons exist due to interplay between repulsive excitonic nonlinearity and giant group velocity dispersion arising in the vicinity of excitonic resonance. Such fully conservative states do not require external pumping to counteract losses and form continuous families parameterized by the power-dependent phase shift and velocity of their motion. Dark solitons are stable in the considerable part…
Semiconductor microcavities operating in the polaritonic regime are highly non-linear, high speed systems due to the unique half-light, half-matter nature of polaritons. Here, we report for the first time the observation of propagating multi-soliton polariton patterns consisting of multi-peak structures either along (x) or perpendicular to (y) the direction of propagation. Soliton arrays of up to 5 solitons are observed, with the number of solitons controlled by the size or power of the triggering laser pulse. The break-up along the x direction occurs due to interplay of bistability, negative …
We consider dark solitons and their stability in spin-orbit coupled polariton condensates. The system supports spinor solitons of two types: conventional (symmetric) dark solitons and asymmetric half-dark solitons. They demonstrate essentially different behavior upon variation of the strength of spin-orbit coupling. One-dimensional spin-orbit coupled dark solitons are usually unstable, while half-dark solitons can be stable. Two-dimensional dark solitons at early stages of the development of transverse instabilities turn into asymmetric snaking patterns and later into sets of vortex-antivortex…
We report the existence, symmetry breaking and other instabilities of dark polariton-solitons in semiconductor microcavities operating in the strong coupling regime. These half-light half-matter solitons are potential candidates for applications in all-optical signal processing. Their excitation time and required pump powers are a few orders of magnitude less than those of their weakly coupled light-only counterparts.
A gap soliton is a solitonic state existing inside the band gap of an infinite-periodic exciton-polariton condensate (EPC). The combination of surface states and gap solitons forms the so named surface gap solitons (SGSs). We analyze the existence of SGSs near the interface between uniform and semi-infinite periodic EPCs. We find that SGSs exist only when the system is excited by a pump with low power and small width. As the pump power or width increases, SGSs become unstable.
We consider the linear and nonlinear models of generation of the surface plasmon-polaritons on the boundary of nonmagnetic dielectric medium and nonmagnetic metal. We have shown how the three-dimensional incident wave is transformed to the fluxes of surface plasmon-polaritons at the first and second harmonics of the TM-mode. These "slow" and "fast" fluxes of the surface plasmon-polaritons are formed at the both harmonics at the weak interaction. We obtain that the pulses of surface plasmon-polaritons propagate as the bright and dark solitons at the strong interaction of the first and second ha…
We study two-dimensional fundamental and vortex solitons in polariton condensates with spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman splitting evolving in square arrays of microcavity pillars. Due to repulsive excitonic nonlinearity such states are encountered in finite gaps in the spectrum of the periodic array. Spin-orbit coupling between two polarization components stemming from TE-TM energy splitting of the cavity photons acting together with Zeeman splitting lifts the degeneracy between vortex solitons with opposite topological charges and makes their density profiles different for a fixed energy. This …
We investigate the propagation and scattering of polaritons in a planar GaAs microcavity in the linear regime under resonant excitation. The propagation of the coherent polariton wave across an extended defect creates phase and intensity patterns with identical qualitative features previously attributed to dark and half-dark solitons of polaritons. We demonstrate that these features are observed for negligible nonlinearity (i.e., polariton-polariton interaction) and are, therefore, not sufficient to identify dark and half-dark solitons. A linear model based on the Maxwell equations is shown to…
The effects of long-range intermolecular interactions on characteristic features of soliton bound states, consisting of localized excitons and polaritons in molecular crystals interacting with a high-intensity optical field, are investigated. Analytical solutions to the resulting modified nonlinear Schrödinger equation are obtained in terms of elliptic-type bright- and dark-soliton structures, which are assumed to correspond to periodic trains of pulse solitons and kink solitons respectively. Long-range intermolecular interactions are shown to renormalize the exciton-polariton interaction stre…
We study exciton-polariton nonlinear optical fluids in a high momentum regime for the first time. Defects in the fluid develop into dark solitons whose healing length decreases with increasing density. We deduce interaction constants for continuous wave polaritons an order of magnitude larger than with picosecond pulses. Time dependent measurements show a 100ps time for the buildup of the interaction strength suggesting a self-generated excitonic reservoir as the source of the extra nonlinearity. The experimental results agree well with a model of coupled photons, excitons and the reservoir.
Mode-locking instability and multiple soliton formation in GaN polariton waveguide cavities
Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS（克莱蒙奥弗涅大学，法国国家科学研究中心）；B. Verkin Institute for Low Temperature Physics and Engineering of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine（乌克兰国家科学院B.维尔金低温物理与工程研究所）；Laboratoire Charles Coulomb, Université de Montpellier, CNRS（蒙彼利埃大学，查尔斯·库隆实验室，法国国家科学研究中心）；Centre de Nanosciences et de Nanotechnologies, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay（巴黎萨克雷大学，纳米科学与纳米技术研究中心，法国国家科学研究中心）；University Côte d’Azur, CNRS, CRHEA（蔚蓝海岸大学，法国国家科学研究中心，低维系统与高功率电子研究中心）；University of Strathclyde（思克莱德大学）；MajuLab, International Research Laboratory IRL 3654, CNRS, Université Côte d’Azur, Sorbonne Université, National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological U（MajuLab，国际研究实验室IRL 3654，法国国家科学研究中心，蔚蓝海岸大学，索邦大学，新加坡国立大学，南洋理工大学）
We address evolution of a spinor polariton condensate in radially periodic potentials. Such potentials allow for the observation of novel nonlinear excitations and support a variety of dynamically stable soliton states never demonstrated before in polariton condensates, including ring-like solitons with density peaks located in different radial minima of the potential and extended dynamically stable multiring patterns. Among the advantages of the system is that azimuthal modulational instabilities are suppressed due to dominating repulsive interactions between polaritons with the same spin, th…
A ring dark soliton is a dark soltion occurring in higher dimensions. It is still unknown in microcavity-polariton condensates due to its instability. We find that a stable RDS cannot exist in a MPC without a defect. We then propose a way to create a stable RDS in a MPC by adding a defect with a ring structure to the system. A RDS pinned by the defect potential becomes stable. For various pump powers, we also investigate the stable regime of the RDS by tuning the strength and width of the defect potential. We conclude that the stable RDSs can be obtained.
Solitons and vortices obtain widespread attention in different physical systems as they offer potential use in information storage, processing, and communication. In exciton-polariton condensates in semiconductor microcavities, solitons and vortices can be created optically. However, dark solitons are unstable and vortices cannot be spatially controlled. In the present work we demonstrate the existence of stable dark solitons and vortices under non-resonant incoherent excitation of a polariton condensate with a simple spatially periodic pump. In one dimension, we show that an additional cohere…
We present a theoretical study of the hydrodynamic properties of a quantum gas of exciton-polaritons in a semiconductor microcavity under a resonant laser excitation. The effect of a spatially extended defect on the superfluid flow is investigated as a function of the flow speed. The processes that are responsible for the nucleation of vortices and solitons in the wake of the defect are characterized, as well as the regimes where the superfluid flow remains unperturbed. Specific features due to the non-equilibrium nature of the polariton fluid are put in evidence.
We propose a possibility to simulate the exciton-polariton (EP) system in the lossless limit, which is not currently available in semiconductor microcavities, by means of a simple optical dual-core waveguide, with one core carrying the nonlinearity and operating close to the zero-group-velocity-dispersion (GVD) point, and the other core being linear and dispersive. Both 2D and 1D EP systems may be emulated by means of this optical setting. In the framework of this system, we find that, while the uniform state corresponding to the lower branch of the nonlinear dispersion relation is stable agai…
We use a one-dimensional polariton fluid in a semiconductor microcavity to explore the rich nonlinear dynamics of counter-propagating interacting Bose fluids. The intrinsically driven-dissipative nature of the polariton fluid allows to use resonant pumping to impose a phase twist across the fluid. When the polariton-polariton interaction energy becomes comparable to their kinetic energy, linear interference fringes transform into a train of solitons. A novel type of bistable behavior controlled by the phase twist across the fluid is experimentally evidenced.
We address formation of stable dissipative surface solitons in the exciton-polariton condensate in one-dimensional array of microcavity pillars under the action of localized resonant pump acting in the edge resonator. We show that localization degree and peak amplitudes of surface solitons can be effectively controlled by the pump frequency and that the allowed energy gap of periodic structure determines the energy range, where surface solitons can form. One observes bistability at sufficiently large pump amplitudes and nonlinearity-induced shift of the position of resonance peak from the allo…
We study the propagation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) on a metal surface which hosts a thin film of a liquid dielectric. The ohmic losses, that are inherently present due to the coupling of SPPs to conductors' electron plasma, induce temperature gradients and fluid deformation driven by the thermocapillary effect, which lead to a nonlinear and nonlocal change of the effective dielectric constant. The latter extends beyond the regions of highest optical intensity, and constitutes a novel thermally self-induced mechanism that affects the propagation of the SPPs. We derive the nonlinear a…
Soliton formation in a bound state in the continuum GaN waveguide polariton laser
Laboratoire Charles Coulomb, Université de Montpellier, CNRS（蒙彼利埃大学查尔斯·库隆实验室）；Institut Pascal, PHOTON-N2, Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS, Clermont INP（克莱蒙奥弗涅大学帕斯卡尔研究所）；B. Verkin Institute for Low Temperature Physics and Engineering of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine（乌克兰国家科学院B.维尔金低温物理与工程研究所）；Naturwissenschaftlich-Technische Fakultät, Universität Siegen（锡根大学自然科学技术学院）；CRHEA, Université Cote d’Azur, CNRS（蔚蓝海岸大学CRHEA研究中心）；Centre de Nanosciences et de Nanotechnologies, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay（巴黎萨克雷大学纳米科学和纳米技术研究中心）
In a recent preprint (arXiv:1401.1128v1) Cilibrizzi and co-workers report experiments and simulations showing the scattering of polaritons against a localised obstacle in a semiconductor microcavity. The authors observe in the linear excitation regime the formation of density and phase patterns reminiscent of those expected in the non-linear regime from the nucleation of dark solitons. Based on this observation, they conclude that previous theoretical and experimental reports on dark solitons in a polariton system should be revised. Here we comment why the results from Cilibrizzi et al. take p…
We theoretically study the spatial focusing of surface polaritons (SPs) in a negative index metamaterial (NIMM)-atomic gas interface waveguide system, based on cross phase modulation (XPM) in a tripod type double electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) scheme. In the linear region, we realize the low loss stable propagation of SPs, and the group velocities of the probe and signal fields are well matched via double EIT. In the nonlinear region, we show that giant enhancement of the XPM can be obtained. Using a narrow optical soliton in free space, we realize spatial focusing of the SPs s…
Phase frustration in periodic lattices is responsible for the formation of dispersionless flat bands. The absence of any kinetic energy scale makes flat band physics critically sensitive to perturbations and interactions. We report here on the experimental investigation of the nonlinear dynamics of cavity polaritons in the gapped flat band of a one-dimensional Lieb lattice. We observe the formation of gap solitons with quantized size and very abrupt edges, signature of the frozen propagation of switching fronts. This type of gap solitons belongs to the class of truncated Bloch waves, and had o…
We theoretically show the existence of cascaded second-order surface plasmon solitons propagating at the interface between metal and linear dielectric. Nonlocal multipole nonlinearities originating from free conduction electron plasma of a metal lead to strong interaction between co-propagating surface plasmon polariton beams at fundamental and second harmonic frequencies. Finite element numerical modelling for effective two-dimensional medium explicitly demonstrates the solitons formation, confirming the theoretical results. The non-diffractive regime of propagation has been demonstrated at s…
We describe an effective resonant interaction between two localized wave modes of different nature: a plasmon-polariton at a metal surface and a self-focusing beam (spatial soliton) in a non-linear dielectric medium. Propagating in the same direction, they represent an exotic coupled-waveguide system, where the resonant interaction is controlled by the soliton amplitude. This non-linear system manifests hybridized plasmon-soliton eigenmodes, mutual conversion, and non-adiabatic switching, which offer exciting opportunities for manipulation of plasmons via spatial solitons.
We demonstrate the first fully controlled generation of immobile and slow spatial gap solitons in nonlinear periodic systems with band-gap spectra, and reveal the key features of gap solitons which distinguish them from conventional counterparts, including a dynamical transformation of gap solitons due to nonlinear inter-band coupling. We also predict theoretically and confirm experimentally the effect of anomalous steering of gap solitons in optically-induced photonic lattices.
We report an experimental method to control large-area air-gaps in the nanometer range for evanescent coupling of light to surface waves such as surface plasmon polaritons or surface phonon polaritons. With the help of spectrally resolved white-light interferometry we are able to stabilize and tune the gap with nanometer precision and high parallelism. Our technique is non-invasive, leaves the coupling area unobstructed, and the setup delivers reference-free real-time readout up to 150 μm distance between the coupling prism and sample. Furthermore, we demonstrate the application to prism coupl…
We elucidate the properties of mixed-gap vector surface solitons supported by the interface between a uniform medium and an optical lattice imprinted in a Kerr-type nonlinear media. The components of such mixed-gap solitons emerge from different gaps of lattice spectrum and their mutual trapping results in the formation of stable vector states. The unstable soliton component is stabilized by the cross-coupling with the stable component. We show that vector mixed-gap surface solitons exhibit a new combination of properties of vectorial surface waves and gap solitons.
We analyze nonlinear collective effects near surfaces of semi-infinite periodic systems with multi-gap transmission spectra and introduce a novel concept of multi-gap surface solitons as mutually trapped surface states with the components associated with different spectral gaps. We find numerically discrete surface modes in semi-infinite binary waveguide arrays which can support simultaneously two types of discrete solitons, and analyze different multi-gap states including the soliton-induced waveguides with the guided modes from different gaps and composite vector solitons.
In a proposed book chapter surface plasmon polariton assisted optical switching in noble metal nanoparticle systems is discussed in the sub-band gap formalism.
A modal expansion approach is developed and employed to investigate and elucidate the nonlinear mechanism behind the multistability and formation of coupled multi-mode polariton solitons in microcavity wires. With pump switched on and realistic dissipation parameters, truncating the expansion up to the second-order wire mode, our model predicts two distinct coupled soliton branches: stable and ustable. Modulational stability of the homogeneous solution and soliton branches stability are studied. Our simplified 1D model is in remarkably good agreement with the full 2D mean-field Gross-Pitaevski…
We report the design and experimental realization of a kind of miniaturized devices for efficient unidirectional launching and shaping of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs). Each device consists of an array of evenly spaced gap plasmon resonators with varying dimensions. Particle swarm optimization is used to achieve a theoretical two dimensional launching efficiency of about 51%, under the normal illumination of a 5-μm waist Gaussian beam at 780 nm. By modifying the wavefront of the SPPs, unidirectional SPPs with focused, Bessel and Airy profiles are launched and imaged with leakage radiation …
The seamless transition between micro-scale photonics and nano-scale plasmonics requires the mitigation between different waveguiding mechanisms as well as between few orders of magnitude in the field lateral size, down to a small fraction of a wavelength. By exploiting gap plasmon polariton waves both at the micro and nano scale, very high power transfer efficiency (>60%) can be achieved using an ultrashort (few microns) non adiabatic tapered gap plasmon waveguide. Same mechanism may be used to harvest impinging light waves and direct them into a nano hole or slit, to exhibit an anomalous tra…
Nonlinear light propagation in a single-mode micron-size waveguide made of semiconducting excitonic material has been theoretically studied in terms of exciton-polaritons by using an analysis based on macroscopic fields. When a light pulse is spectrally centered in the vicinity of the ground-state Wannier exciton resonance, it interacts with the medium nonlinearly. This optical cubic nonlinearity is caused by the repulsive exciton-exciton interactions in the semiconductor, and at resonance it is orders of magnitude larger than the Kerr nonlinearity (e.g., in silica). We demonstrate that a very…
Two-dimensional semiconductors host excitons with very large oscillator strengths and binding energies due to significantly reduced carrier screening. Two-dimensional semiconductors integrated with optical cavities are emerging as a promising platform for studying strong light-matter interactions as a route to explore a variety of exotic many-body effects. Here, in few-layered WS2 coupled with plasmonic nanoparticle lattices, we observe the formation of a collective polaritonic mode near the exciton energy and the formation of a complete polariton band gap with energy scale comparable to the e…
We introduce novel optical solitons that consist of a periodic and a spatially localized components coupled nonlinearly via cross-phase modulation. The spatially localized optical field can be treated as a gap soliton supported by the optically-induced nonlinear grating. We find different types of these band-gap composite solitons and demonstrate their dynamical stability.
We consider a system of generalized coupled Discrete Nonlinear Schrödinger (DNLS) equations, derived as a tight-binding model from the Gross-Pitaevskii-type equations describing a zigzag chain of weakly coupled condensates of exciton-polaritons with spin-orbit (TE-TM) coupling. We focus on the simplest case when the angles for the links in the zigzag chain are $\pm π/4$ with respect to the chain axis, and the basis (Wannier) functions are cylindrically symmetric (zero orbital angular momenta). We analyze the properties of the fundamental nonlinear localized solutions, with particular interest …
We address the impact of asymmetric nonlocal diffusion nonlinearity on the properties of gap solitons supported by photorefractive crystal with an imprinted optical lattice. We reveal how the asymmetric nonlocal response alters the domains of existence and the stability of solitons originating from different gaps. We find that in such media gap solitons cease to exist above a threshold of the nonlocality degree. We discuss how the interplay between nonlocality and lattice strength modifies the gap soliton mobility.
We theoretically study the propagation of large-wavevector waves (volume plasmon polaritons) in multilayer hyperbolic metamaterials with two levels of structuring. We show that when the parameters of a subwavelength metal-dielectric multilayer ("substructure") are modulated ("superstructured") on a larger, wavelength scale, the propagation of volume plasmon polaritons in the resulting multiscale hyperbolic metamaterials is subject to photonic band gap phenomena. A great degree of control over such plasmons can be exerted by varying the superstructure geometry. When this geometry is periodic, s…
We numerically study the nonlocal gap solitons in parity-time (PT) symmetric optical lattices built into a nonlocal self-focusing medium. We state the existence, stability, and propagation dynamics of such PT gap solitons in detail. Simulated results show that there exist stable gap soltions. The influences of the degree of nonlocality on the soliton power, the energy flow density and the stable region of the PT gap solitons are also examined.
We analyze the existence, stability, and mobility of gap solitons in a periodic photonic structure with nonlocal nonlinearity. Within the Bragg region of band gaps, gap solitons exhibit better stability and higher mobility due to the combinations of non-locality effect and the oscillation nature of Bloch waves. Using linear stability analysis and calculating the Peierls-Nabarro potentials, we demonstrate that gap solitons can revive a non-trivial elastic-like collision even in the periodic systems with the help of nonlocal nonlinearity. Such interesting behaviors of gap solitons in nonlocal no…
Periodic structures consisting of alternating layers of positive index and negative index materials possess a novel band gap at the frequency at which the average refractive index is zero. We show that in the presence of a Kerr nonlinearity, this zero-n gap can switch from low transmission to a perfectly transmitting state, forming a nonlinear resonance or gap soliton in the process. This zero-n gap soliton is omnidirectional in contrast to the usual Bragg gap soliton of positive index periodic structures
The advance in designing arrays of ultrathin two-dimensional optical nano-resonators, known as metasurfaces, is currently enabling a large variety of novel flat optical components. The remarkable control over the electromagnetic fields offered by this technology can be further extended to the active regime in order to manipulate the light characteristics in real-time. In this contribution, we couple the excitonic resonance of atomic thin MoS2 monolayers with gap-surface-plasmon (GSP) metasurfaces, and demonstrate selective enhancement of the exciton-plasmon polariton emissions. We further demo…
Recently reported large values of exciton-polariton nonlinearity of transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) monolayers coupled to optically resonant structures approach the values characteristic for GaAs-based systems in the regime of strong light-matter coupling. Contrary to the latter, TMD-based polaritonic devices remain operational at ambient conditions and therefore have greater potential for practical nanophotonic applications. Here we present the study of the nonlinear properties of Ta$_2$O$_5$ slab waveguide coupled to a WSe$_2$ monolayer. We first confirm that the hybridization between …
We study the dynamics of phase defects trapped in a finite optically imprinted ring lattice in binary polariton condensates, under the influence of the cross-interaction (CI) between the condensates in different spin components and the spin-orbit interaction (SOI). In this configuration, we find that a vortex circulates unidirectionally in optically induced orbits because of the Magnus force acting in the polariton fluid, and the vortex' angular velocity is influenced by the SOI and CI. Interestingly, in our system, these two interactions can also lead to elongated and frozen phase defects, fo…
We study a model of a photon mode dipole-coupled to a medium of two-level oscillators in a microcavity in the presence of dephasing processes introduced by coupling to external baths. Decoherence processes can be classified as pair-breaking or non-pair-breaking in analogy with magnetic or non-magnetic impurities in superconductors. In the absence of dephasing, the ground state of the model is a polariton condensate with a gap in the excitation spectrum. Increase of the pair-breaking parameter $γ$ reduces the gap, which becomes zero at a critical value $γ_{C1}$; for large $γ$, the conventional …
