An exciton-polariton mediated all-optical router

Abstract

We propose an all-optical nonlinear router based on a double barrier gate connected to periodically modulated guides. A semiconductor microcavity is driven nonresonantly in-between the barriers to form an exciton-polariton condensate on a discrete state that is subject to the exciton blueshift. The subsequent coherent optical signal is allowed to propagate through a guide provided that the condensate energy is resonant with a miniband or is blocked if it faces a gap. While a symmetric sample operates as an optical switch, its asymmetric counterpart embodies a router turned to be polarization selective under applied magnetic field.

Polariton condensation phase diagram in wide-band-gap planar microcavities: GaN versus ZnO

“…Up to now, many studies have reported phenomena based on the physics of polaritons and their condensates such as superfluidity 11 , topological defects 12 , parametric amplification, 13 and their possible applications, such as low-threshold lasers 14,15 , optical switches and transistors [16][17][18] , diodes 19 , interferometers 20 , and optical routers 21,22 .…”

Operation speed of polariton condensate switches gated by excitons

“…Optical devices incorporating such condensates are promising candidates for new ultrafast, low-power consuming information processing components [3][4][5]. Different structures, including one-dimensional ones, have been proposed recently for the realization of transistors [6,7], diodes [8], optical routers [9], spin current controllers [10], logic gates [11], and for building a universal set of logic AND-and NOT-type gates [12].…”

Dissipative soliton protocols in semiconductor microcavities at finite temperatures

“…For instance, producing confining potentials of various kinds [31][32][33][34][35] results in a growing number of theoretical proposals. [36][37][38][39][40] Another reason why polaritons attract growing interest is that they can form quasi-Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) 41 which is similar to BEC of quasiparticles in other mesoscopic systems.…”