Topological insulators are a class of electronic materials exhibiting robust edge states immune to perturbations and disorder. This concept has been successfully adapted in photonics, where topologically nontrivial waveguides and topological lasers were developed. However, the exploration of topological properties in a given photonic system is limited to a fabricated sample, without the flexibility to reconfigure the structure in-situ. Here, we demonstrate an all-optical realization of the orbital Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) model in a microcavity exciton-polariton system, whereby a cavity photon is hybridized with an exciton in a GaAs quantum well. We induce a zigzag potential for exciton polaritons all-optically, by shaping the nonresonant laser excitation, and measure directly the eigenspectrum and topological edge states of a polariton lattice in a nonlinear regime of bosonic condensation. Furthermore, taking advantage of the tunability of the optically induced lattice we modify the intersite tunneling to realize a topological phase transition to a trivial state. Our results open the way to study topological phase transitions on-demand in fully reconfigurable hybrid photonic systems that do not require sophisticated sample engineering.
Until now, the generation of an excitonic reservoir in a cavity polariton system under quasi-resonant pumping has always been neglected. We show that in microcavities having a small Rabi splitting (typically GaAs cavities with a single quantum well), this reservoir can be efficiently populated by polariton-phonon scattering. We consider the influence of the exciton reservoir on the energy shifts of the resonantly pumped polariton modes. We show that the presence of this reservoir effectively reduces the spin anisotropy of the polariton-polariton interaction, in agreement with recent experiment…
We photo-excite slab polymer waveguides doped with J-aggregating dye molecules and measure the leaky emission from strongly coupled waveguide exciton polariton modes at room temperature. We show that the momentum of the waveguide exciton polaritons can be controlled by modifying the thickness of the excitonic waveguide. Non-resonantly pumped excitons in the slab excitonic waveguide decay into transverse electric and transverse magnetic strongly coupled exciton waveguide modes with radial symmetry. These leak to cones of light with radial and azimuthal polarizations.
We propose a scheme for calculation of optical functions of a semiconductor with Rydberg excitons, for a wide interval of dimensions. We start with 2-dimensional structure, then going to thin films and ending on 3-dimensional bulk crystals. The calculations including the polaritons are performed, the case of large number of polariton branches is discussed and obtained theoretical absorption spectra show good agreement with experimental data.
Twisted atomically thin semiconductors are characterized by moiré excitons. Their optical signatures and selection rules are well understood. However, their hybridization with photons in the strong coupling regime for heterostructures integrated in an optical cavity has not been in the focus of research yet. Here, we combine an excitonic density matrix formalism with a Hopfield approach to provide microscopic insights into moiré exciton polaritons. In particular, we show that exciton-light coupling, polariton energy, and even the number of polariton branches can be controlled via the twist ang…
We theoretically study the transport of exciton polaritons under different applied photon potentials. The relation between the photon potentials and the thickness of the cavity layer is calculated by the finite element simulation. The theoretical analysis and numerical calculation indicate that the cavity photon potential is proportional to the thickness of the cavity layer with the coefficient being about $1.8$ meV/nm. Further, the periodic and linear photon potentials are considered to control the transport of the exciton polaritons in weak- and strong-field pump situations. In both situatio…
Interactions of few-cycle terahertz pulses with the induced optical polarization in a quantum-well microcavity reveal that the lower and higher exciton-polariton modes together with the optically forbidden 2p-exciton state form a unique Λ-type three-level system. Pronounced nonlinearities are observed via time-resolved strong-terahertz and weak-optical excitation spectroscopy and explained with a fully microscopic theory. The results show that the terahertz pulses strongly couple the exciton-polariton states to the 2p-exciton state while no resonant transition between the two polariton levels …
A monolayer of transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) is shown to be capable of supporting a guided optical mode below the exciton resonance, a two-dimensional exciton polariton. This visible or near IR mode is confined roughly within a micrometer from the monolayer and has propagation length exceeding 100 micrometers. The light guiding ability makes TMDC monolayers more versatile and potentially attractive photonic platform.
The goal of nanophotonics is to control and manipulate light at length scales below the diffraction limit. Typically nanostructured metals are used for this purpose, light being confined by exploiting the surface plasmon-polaritons such structures support. Recently excitonic (molecular) materials have been identified as an alternative candidate material for nanophotonics. Here we use theoretical modelling to explore how hybridisation of surface exciton-polaritons can be achieved through appropriate nanostructuring. We focus on the extent to which the frequency of the hybridised modes can be sh…
We investigate an all-optical microscale planar lensing technique based on coherent fluids of semiconductor cavity exciton-polariton condensates. Our theoretical analysis underpins the potential in using state-of-the-art spatial light modulation of nonresonant excitation beams to guide and focus polariton condensates away from their pumping region. The nonresonant excitation profile generates an excitonic reservoir that blueshifts the polariton mode and provides gain, which can be spatially tailored into lens shapes at the microscale to refract condensate waves. We propose several different av…
Controlling light-matter interactions in solid-state systems has motivated intense research to produce bosonic quasi-particles known as exciton-polaritons, which requires strong coupling between excitons and cavity photons. Ultra-low threshold coherent light emitters can be achieved through lasing from exciton-polariton condensates, but this generally requires sophisticated device structures and cryogenic temperatures. Polaritonic nanolasers operating at room temperature lie on the crucial path of related research, not only for the exploration of polariton physics at the nanoscale but also for…
We develop a theory of spin fluctuations of exciton-polaritons in a semiconductor microcavity under the non-resonant unpolarized pumping. It is shown that the corresponding spin noise is sensitive to the scattering rates in the system, occupation of the ground state, statistics of polaritons, and interactions. The spin noise spectrum drastically narrows in the polariton lasing regime due to formation of a polariton condensate, while its shape can become non-Lorentzian owing to interaction-induced spin decoherence.
The concept of modifying molecular dynamics in strongly coupled exciton-polariton systems is an emerging topic in photonics due to its potential to produce customized chemical systems with tailored photophysical properties. However, before such systems can be realized, it is essential to address the open questions concerning the nature and strength of electronic interactions between exciton-polaritons and localized excited states in chemical system as well as the proper way to measure such interactions. Here, we use transient optical spectroscopy to investigate dynamical interactions between e…
Boosting self hybridized exciton polaritons with metal clad WS2 waveguides
Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics, Kiel University（基尔大学实验与应用物理研究所）；Ruprecht Haensel Laboratory, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY（德国电子同步加速器研究所鲁普雷希特·亨塞尔实验室）
We propose a method to enhance the spatial coupling between ballistic exciton-polariton condensates in a semiconductor microcavity based on available spatial light modulator technologies. Our method, verified by numerically solving a generalized Gross-Pitaevskii model, exploits the strong nonequilibrium nature of exciton-polariton condensation driven by localized nonresonant optical excitation. Tailoring the excitation beam profile from a Gaussian into a polygonal shape results in refracted and focused radial streams of outflowing polaritons from the excited condensate which can be directed to…
Exciton-polaritons, elementary excitations arising from the strong coupling regime between photons and excitons in insulators or semiconductors, represent a promising platform for studying quantum fluids of light and realizing prospective all-optical devices. Among different materials for room temperature polaritonic devices, two-dimensional (2D) layered perovskites have recently emerged as one of the promising candidates thanks to their prominent excitonic features at room temperature. Here we report on the experimental demonstration of exciton-polaritons at room temperature in resonant metas…
Exciton-polaritons are hybrid light-matter quasiparticles formed by strongly interacting photons and excitons (electron-hole pairs) in semiconductor microcavities. They have emerged as a robust solid-state platform for next-generation optoelectronic applications as well as fundamental studies of quantum many-body physics. Importantly, exciton-polaritons are a profoundly open (i.e., non-Hermitian) quantum system: it requires constant pumping of energy and continuously decays releasing coherent radiation. Thus, the exciton-polaritons always exist in a balanced potential landscape of gain and los…
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 implement externally excited ZnO Mie resonators in a framework of a generalized Hubbard Hamiltonian to investigate the lifetimes of excitons and exciton-polaritons out of thermodynamical equilibrium. Our results are derived by a Floquet-Keldysh-Green's formalism with Dynamical Mean Field Theory (DMFT) and a second order iterative perturbation theory solver (IPT). We find that the Fano resonance which originates from coupling of the continuum of electronic density of states to the semiconductor Mie resonator yields polaritons with lifetimes between 0.6 ps and 1.45 ps. These results are compa…
Two-dimensional (2D) semiconducting microcavity, where exciton-polaritons can be formed, constitues a promising setup for exploring and manipulating various regimes of light-matter interaction. Here, the coupling between 2D excitons and metallic cavity photons is studied by using first-principles propagator technique. The strength of exciton-photon coupling is characterised by its Rabi splitting to two exciton-polaritons, which can be tuned by cavity thickness. Maximum splitting of 128 meV is achieved in phosporene cavity, while remarkable value of about 440 meV is predicted in monolayer hBN d…
Fluorescent proteins (FPs) have recently emerged as a serious contender for realizing ultralow threshold room temperature exciton-polariton condensation and lasing. Our contribution investigates the thermalization of FP microcavity exciton-polaritons upon optical pumping under ambient conditions. We realize polariton cooling using a new FP molecule, called mScarlet, coupled strongly to the optical modes in a Fabry Perot cavity. Interestingly, at the threshold excitation energy (fluence) of ~ 9 nJ/pulse (15.6 mJ/cm2), we observe an effective temperature, Teff ~ 350 +/- 35 K close to the lattice…
Achieving electrical injection of exciton-polaritons, half-light, half-matter quasiparticles arising from the strong coupling between photonic and excitonic resonances, is a crucial milestone to scale up polaritonic devices such as optical computers, quantum simulators and inversionless lasers. Here we present a new approach to achieve strong coupling between electrically injected excitons and photonic bound states in the continuum of a dielectric metasurface monolithically patterned in the channel of a light-emitting transistor. Exciton-polaritons are generated by coupling electrically inject…
Single layers of transition metal dichalcogenides are two-dimensional direct bandgap semiconductors with degenerate, but inequivalent, `valleys' in the electronic structure that can be selectively excited by polarized light. Coherent superpositions of light and matter, exciton-polaritons, have been observed when these materials are strongly coupled to photons, but these hybrid quasiparticles do not harness the valley-sensitive excitations of monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides. Here, we demonstrate evidence for valley polarized exciton-polaritons in monolayers of MoS$_2$ embedded in a d…
The strong coupling between photons and matter excitations such as excitons, phonons, and magnons is of central importance in the study of light-matter interactions. Bridging the flying and stationary quantum states, the strong light-matter coupling enables the coherent transmission, storage, and processing of quantum information, which is essential for building photonic quantum networks. Over the past few decades, exciton-polaritons have attracted substantial research interest due to their half-light-half-matter bosonic nature. Coupling exciton-polaritons with magnetic orders grants access to…
