Optical Circuits Based on Polariton Neurons in Semiconductor Microcavities

Liew, Timothy Chi Hin; Kavokin, A. V.; Shelykh, I. A.

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.101.016402

Cited by 245 publications

(220 citation statements)

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“…As a result of their finite lifetime, cavity polaritons are a model system to investigate dynamical BEC (refs 20,21), also referred to as a polariton laser effect, with a technological control of the resonator geometry and the polariton lifetime. In previously reported polariton laser systems, the cavity lifetime and the photonic disorder prevented the build-up of extended condensates needed for the realization of polariton circuits 22,23 . The measured coherence length ranged at best from 10 to 20 µm (refs 4,6,11,24), a few times the polariton thermal de Broglie wavelength.…”

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Spontaneous formation and optical manipulation of extended polariton condensates

et al. 2010

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Cavity exciton-polaritons 1,2 (polaritons) are bosonic quasiparticles offering a unique solid-state system for investigating interacting condensates 3-10 . Up to now, disorder-induced localization and short lifetimes 4,6,11 have prevented the establishment of long-range off-diagonal order 12 needed for any quantum manipulation of the condensate wavefunction. In this work, using a wire microcavity with polariton lifetimes much longer than in previous samples, we show that polariton condensates can propagate over macroscopic distances outside the excitation area, while preserving their spontaneous spatial coherence. An extended condensate wavefunction builds up with a degree of spatial coherence larger than 50% over distances 50 times the polariton de Broglie wavelength. The expansion of the condensate is shown to be governed by the repulsive potential induced by photogenerated excitons within the excitation area. The control of this local potential offers a new and versatile method to manipulate extended polariton condensates. As an illustration, we demonstrate synchronization of extended condensates by controlled tunnel coupling 13,14 and localization of condensates in a trap with optically controlled dimensions.Modern semiconductor technology allows the realization of nanostructures where both electronic and photonic states undergo quantum confinement. In particular in semiconductor microcavities, excitons confined in quantum wells and photons confined in a Fabry-Perot resonator can enter the light-matter strong coupling regime. This gives rise to the formation of cavity polaritons, mixed exciton-photon states that obey bosonic statistics 2 . The polariton dispersion presents a sharp energy minimum close to the states with zero in-plane wave vector (k = 0) with an effective mass m * three orders of magnitude smaller than that of the bare quantum well exciton. Recently, polariton Bose-Einstein condensation 3-10 (BEC) and related effects such as vortices 15,16 or superfluid 17-19 behaviour have been reported at unprecedented high temperatures. As a result of their finite lifetime, cavity polaritons are a model system to investigate dynamical BEC (refs 20,21), also referred to as a polariton laser effect, with a technological control of the resonator geometry and the polariton lifetime. In previously reported polariton laser systems, the cavity lifetime and the photonic disorder prevented the build-up of extended condensates needed for the realization of polariton circuits 22,23 . The measured coherence length ranged at best from 10 to 20 µm (refs 4,6,11,24), a few times the polariton thermal de Broglie wavelength.Here, we report on the spontaneous formation of extended polariton condensates with a spatial coherence extending over 50 times the thermal de Broglie wavelength. These condensates, made of a quantum degenerated light-matter state, are strongly out of equilibrium, thus deeply differing from atomic BEC. Spatial control of such extended condensates is demonstrated, opening the way to a new range of physic...

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“…Controlling both the propagation and the wavefunction of a polariton condensate opens the way to the realization of polariton circuits, a first step towards high-speed all-optical information processing 22 .…”

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Spontaneous formation and optical manipulation of extended polariton condensates

et al. 2010

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“…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].…”

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confidence: 99%

Operation speed of polariton condensate switches gated by excitons

et al. 2014

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We present a time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) study in real and momentum space of a polariton condensate switch in a quasi-one-dimensional semiconductor microcavity. The polariton flow across the ridge is gated by excitons inducing a barrier potential due to repulsive interactions. A study of the device operation dependence on the power of the pulsed gate beam obtains a satisfactory compromise for the on-off signal ratio and switching time of the order of 0.3 and ∼50 ps, respectively. The opposite transition is governed by the long-lived gate excitons, consequently, the off-on switching time is ∼200 ps, limiting the overall operation speed of the device to ∼3 GHz. The experimental results are compared to numerical simulations based on a generalized Gross-Pitaevskii equation, taking into account incoherent pumping, decay, and energy relaxation within the condensate.

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“…15,16 Additionally, polaritons have been proposed as basic ingredients for spinoptronic devices 17 and all-optical logical elements and integrated circuits. 18,19 While most attention in the field of exciton polaritons is drawn to two-dimensional structures, the strong light-matter interaction of excitons in one-dimensional nanowires with a confined cavity mode has also been studied. 20,21 Their properties were shown to be improved over the excitonpolaritons analogs in quantum wells due to their larger exciton binding energy.…”

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confidence: 99%

One-dimensional Van Hove polaritons

et al. 2013

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We study the light-matter coupling of microcavity photons and an interband transition in a one-dimensional (1D) nanowire. Due to the Van Hove singularity in the density of states, resulting in a resonant character of the absorption line, the achievement of strong coupling becomes possible even without the formation of a bound state of an electron and a hole. The calculated absorption in the system and corresponding energy spectrum reveal anticrossing behavior characteristic of the formation of polariton modes. In contrast to the case of conventional exciton polaritons, the formation of 1D Van Hove polaritons will not be restricted to low temperatures and can be realized in any system with a singularity in the density of states.

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Optical Circuits Based on Polariton Neurons in Semiconductor Microcavities

Cited by 245 publications

References 53 publications

Spontaneous formation and optical manipulation of extended polariton condensates

Spontaneous formation and optical manipulation of extended polariton condensates

Operation speed of polariton condensate switches gated by excitons

One-dimensional Van Hove polaritons

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