The transport distance of excitons in exciton-polariton systems has previously been assumed to be very small ( 1 µm). The sharp spatial profiles observed when generating polaritons by nonresonant optical excitation show that this assumption is generally true. In this paper, however, we show that the transport distances of excitons in two-dimensional planar cavity structures with even a slightly polaritonic character are much longer than expected (≈ 20 µm). Although this population of slightly polaritonic excitons is normally small compared to the total population of excitons, they can substantially outnumber the population of the polaritons at lower energies, leading to important implications for the tailoring of potential landscapes and the measurement of interactions between polaritons.

We present a study of the macroscopic dynamics of a polariton condensate formed by non-resonant optical excitation in a quasi-one-dimensional ring shaped microcavity. The presence of a gradient in the cavity photon energy creates a macroscopic trap for the polaritons in which a single mode condensate is formed. With time-and energy-resolved imaging we show the role of interactions in the motion of the condensate as it undergoes equilibration in the ring. These experiments also give a direct measurement of the polariton-polariton interaction strength above the condensation threshold. Our observations are compared to the open-dissipative one-dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equation which shows excellent qualitative agreement.

In this letter, we present a study of the condensation of exciton-polaritons in large etched pillar structures that exhibit shallow edge trapping. The ≈ 100 µm ×100 µm pillars were fabricated using photolithography and a BCl 3 /Cl 2 reactive ion etch. A low energy region emerged along the etched edge, with the minima ≈ 7 µm from the outer edge. The depth of the trap was 0.5 − 1.5 meV relative to the level central region, with the deepest trapping at the corners. We were able to produce a Bose-Einstein condensate in the trap near the edges and corners by pumping non-resonantly in the middle of the pillar. This condensate began as a set of disconnected condensates at various points along the edges, but then became a single mono-energetic condensate as the polariton density was increased. Similar edge traps could be used to produce shallow 1D traps along edges or other more complex traps using various etch geometries and scales.In the past two decades, many experiments have used polaritons resulting from strong coupling between trapped microcavity photons and quantum well (QW) excitons. These bosonic particles have a very light mass (∼ 10 −4 m e ) due to being partially photonic, but also strong particle-particle interactions from being partially excitonic.1 This combination of a light mass and strong interactions leads to the formation of Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) at relatively high temperatures (∼ 10 K).2-4 Polaritons provide a promising system for studying bosonic particles at even higher temperatures, and polariton lasing has been observed at room temperature in both GaN 5 and organic 6 systems. Many methods of confinement have been used to study polariton dynamics in a variety of geometries. Applying stress to a thin (≈ 100 µm) GaAs sample can be used to shift the exciton energy, resulting in a harmonic trap. 4,7Pumping such a stress trap non-resonantly in the center forms a repulsive barrier and can be used to form a ring geometry.8 Complex pumping geometries can also be used to confine polaritons, including the use of two or more pump spots in various arrangements or using a ring-shaped pump spot.9-13 More permanent methods of confinement include producing a spacer in certain regions of the cavity during the growth process, 14-16 using sub-wavelength gratings as the top mirror, 17,18 depositing metal strips onto the top mirror, 19 and etching the sample after growth to form 1D wires, 2D pillars, and 2D arrays of coupled pillars. 20-25While optically induced trapping potentials have the advantage of being easily reconfigured, etched trapping allows the confinement to be somewhat independent of the pump laser. Post-growth etching also produces much higher potential barriers at the etched edges than the a) Electronic mail: dmm154@pitt.edu b) J. K. Wuenschell is now at Physical Sciences Laboratory, The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, CA 90245, USA deposition of metal strips, and it is compatible with our existing sample materials and growth methods, unlike sub-wavelength gratings or modulating the cavi...

We show the direct effect of free electrons colliding with polaritons, changing their momentum. The result of this interaction of the electrons with the polaritons is a change in the angle of emission of the photons from our cavity structure. Because the experiment is a photon-in, photon-out system, this is equivalent to optical beam steering of photons using a DC electrical current. The effect is asymmetric, significantly slowing down the polaritons when they move oppositely to the electrons, while the polaritons are only slightly accelerated by electrons moving in the same direction.

Two-dimensional monolayer structures of transition metal dichalogenides (TMDs) have been shown to allow many higher-order excitonic bound states, including trions (charged excitons), biexcitons (excitonic molecules), and charged biexcitons. We report here experimental evidence and the theoretical basis for a new bound excitonic complex, consisting two free carriers bound to an exciton in a bilayer structure. Our experimental measurements on structures made using two different materials show a new spectral line at the predicted energy with two different TMD materials (MoSe 2 and WSe 2 ) with both n-and pdoping if and only if all the required theoretical conditions for this complex are fulfilled, in particular, only in the presence of a parallel metal layer that significantly screens the repulsive interaction between the like-charge carriers. Because these four-carrier bound states are charged bosons, they could eventually be the basis for a new path to superconductivity without Cooper pairing.