Coherent control of polariton parametric scattering in semiconductor microcavities

In a pump-probe experiment, we have been able to control, with phase-locked probe pulses, the ultrafast nonlinear optical emission of a semiconductor microcavity, arising from polariton parametric amplification. This evidences the coherence of the polariton population near k=0, even for delays much longer than the pulse width. The control of a large population at k=0 is possible although the probe pulses are much weaker than the large polarization they control. With rising pump power the dynamics of the scattering get faster. Just above threshold the parametric scattering process shows unexpected long coherence times, whereas when pump power is risen the contrast decays due to a significant pump reservoir depletion. The weak pulses at normal incidence control the whole angular emission pattern of the microcavity.     

Stimulated parametric scattering of excitonic polaritons in planar GaAs microcavities: Distinctive feature of QW electric field

Instabilities in the electric field at the QW in the active region of a GaAs based microcavity have been investigated under the resonance excitation near the inflection point of the low polariton (LP) dispersion curve with the use of four wave mixing technique. The electric field jump due to an LP bistability has been found to precede the development of a stimulated parametric scattering of LPs. The latter has been found to develop with a delay of a few hundreds ps from the beginning of the excitation pulse. These results are in qualitative agreement with hard regime of excitation of the stimulated parametric LP scattering predicted recently.     

Effect of the incoherent scattering of polaritons on the dynamics of stimulated polariton-polariton scattering in GaAs microcavities

It has been found that interband illumination strongly affects the dynamics of parametric polariton scattering in planar GaAs microcavities under resonant photoexcitation above the inflection point of the polariton dispersion curve: illumination with a power density of about 0.1% of the resonance value reduces the threshold density for the appearance of stimulated scattering by more than 15%. It has been shown that the effect is attributed to a change in the resonance energy of the pumped mode due to an increase in the density of long-lived exciton-like polaritons formed owing to the scattering of resonantly-excited polaritons on photoexcited free carriers.     

Electron-polariton scattering in semiconductor microcavities

In semiconductor microcavities, electron-polariton scattering has been proposed as an efficient process that can drive polaritons from the bottleneck region to the ground state, achieving Bose amplification of the optical emission. We present clear experimental observation of this process in a structure that allows control of the electron density and we report substantial enhancement of photoluminescence. We show that this enhancement is more effective at higher temperatures due to the different way that electron scattering processes either broaden or relax polaritons.     

Crossover from exciton to biexciton polaritons in semiconductor microcavities

Pump-probe measurements in a microcavity containing a quantum well show that a population of circularly polarized ( sigma(+)) excitons can completely inhibit the transition to sigma(-) one-exciton states by transferring the oscillator strength to the biexcitonic resonance. With increasing pump intensity the linear exciton-polariton doublet evolves into a triplet polariton structure and finally into a shifted biexciton-polariton doublet. A theoretical model of interacting excitons demonstrates that the crossover from exciton to biexciton polaritons is driven by three-exciton Coulomb correlation.     

Effect of weak magnetic field on polariton-electron scattering in semiconductor microcavities

The polarition linewidth is calculated as a function of magnetic field applied perpendicular to the microcavity plane for microcavity excition-polaritons scattered by free electrons in a quantum well. The calculated function exhibits oscillatory behavior; i.e., the scattering rate either increases or decreases with magnetic induction. Possible applications of this effect are discussed.     

Many-body and correlation effects on parametric polariton amplification in semiconductor microcavities

The complexity induced by the Coulomb interaction between electrons determines the noninstantaneous character of exciton-exciton collisions. We show that the exciton-photon coupling in semiconductor microcavities is able to alter the exciton dynamics during collisions strongly affecting the effective scattering rates. Our analysis clarifies the origin of the great enhancement of parametric gain observed when increasing the polariton splitting. It also demonstrates that exciton-exciton collisions in semiconductors can be controlled and engineered to produce almost decoherence-free collisions for the realization of all-optical microscopic devices.     

Time resolved scattering relaxation mechanisms of microcavity polaritons

We study the polariton relaxation dynamics for different scattering mechanisms as: Phonon and electron scattering procesess. The relaxation polariton is obtained at very short times by solving the Boltzman equation. Instead of the well-known relaxation process by phonons, we show that the bottleneck effect relaxes to the ground state more efficiently at low pump power intensity when the electron relaxation process is included. In this way, we clearly demonstrate that different relaxation times exist, for which any of these two mechanism is more efficient to relax the polariton population to the ground state.     

Dynamics of the transition from strong to weak coupling regime in a system of exciton polaritons in semiconductor microcavities

The dynamics of polaritonic emission of a GaAs-based microcavity with embedded quantum wells under nonresonant optical excitation is studied. Kinetic dependences of the intensity, spectral position, and linewidth of spontaneous and stimulated emission of the microcavity are measured. It is established that the dynamics of the high-frequency shift of the emission line is qualitatively similar to the dynamics of the emission intensity, but the spectral shift attains its maximum value before the peak intensity is reached. The emission linewidth is maximal immediately after the excitation pulse. Under the conditions of spontaneous emission, the linewidth decreases steadily with time, approaching the value corresponding to low polariton densities. Under lasing conditions, the linewidth is at a minimum when the stimulated-emission intensity attains its peak value. The experimental data are analyzed on the basis of a theoretical model that describes relaxation processes taking into account exciton-exciton and exciton-free carrier interactions.     

Continuous wave observation of massive polariton redistribution by stimulated scattering in semiconductor microcavities

A massive redistribution of the polariton occupancy to two specific wave vectors, zero and approximately 3.9x10(4) cm(-1), is observed under conditions of continuous wave excitation of a semiconductor microcavity. The "condensation" of the polaritons to the two specific states arises from stimulated scattering at final state occupancies of order unity. The stimulation phenomena, arising due to the bosonic character of the polariton quasiparticles, occur for conditions of resonant excitation of the lower polariton branch. High energy nonresonant excitation, as in most previous work, instead leads to conventional lasing in the vertical cavity structure.     

Stimulated polariton-polariton scattering and dynamic Bose-Einstein condensation of polaritons in GaAs microcavities under excitation near the exciton resonance

The dynamics of formation of the macroscopically occupied polariton mode at the bottom of the polariton band E _LP(k = 0) and its spin polarization under the quasiresonant pulse excitation of excitons (E = E _X ) with large values of quasi-momentum have been studied in planar GaAs microcavities. It has been found that the growth in the depth E _X − E _LP(k = 0) of the polariton band leads to the change in the formation mechanism for the k = 0 condensate state from the direct parametric decay of the photoexcited mode (due to the polariton-polariton interaction) to the dynamic condensation of polaritons, which results from the multiple scattering of polaritons by both phonons and polaritons. At the same time, in microcavities with E _X − E _LP(k = 0) > 3.5 meV, the direct decay of the photoexcited mode does not disappear, becoming an efficient mechanism for the filling of the states located at the k-space ring, corresponding to the energies E _LP(k) ≈ E _X − 2.6 meV.     

Spin rings in semiconductor microcavities

New effects of self-organization and polarization pattern formation in semiconductor microcavities, operating in the nonlinear regime, are predicted and theoretically analyzed. We show that a spatially inhomogeneous elliptically polarized optical cw pump leads to the formation of a strongly circularly polarized ring in real space. This effect is due to the polarization multistability of cavity polaritons which was recently predicted. The possible switching between different stable configurations allows the realization of a localized spin memory element, suitable for an optical data storage device.     

Propagation and localization of polaritons in disordered organic microcavities

The effect of disorder on the polaritonic states in organic microcavities utilizing J aggregates of cyanine dyes is examined. The comparison between the elastic mean free path, the phase breaking length and the wavelength of polaritons shows that, by varying two control parameters, one can achieve different regimes of cavity polariton propagation and localization (including weak and strong localization) in one sample at room temperature. We analyze the role of different parameters of the sample in the possibility of realization of each regime.     

Thermodynamics and excitations of condensed polaritons in disordered microcavities

We study the thermodynamic condensation of microcavity polaritons using a realistic model of disorder in semiconductor quantum wells. This approach correctly describes the polariton inhomogeneous broadening in the low density limit, and treats scattering by disorder to all orders in the condensed regime. While the weak disorder changes the thermodynamic properties of the transition little, the effects of disorder in the condensed state are prominent in the excitations and can be seen in resonant Rayleigh scattering.     

Spontaneous coherent phase transition of polaritons in CdTe microcavities

We report on evidence for polariton condensation out of a reservoir of incoherent polaritons. Polariton population and first-order coherence are investigated by spectroscopic imaging of the far-field emission of a CdTe-based microcavity under nonresonant pumping. With increasing pumping power, stimulated emission with thresholdlike behavior and spectral narrowing is observed in the strong exciton-photon coupling regime. We show that it comes from a narrow ring in k space, exhibiting enhanced spatial and angular coherence at the stimulation onset.     

Kinetics of stimulated polariton scattering in planar microcavities: evidence for a dynamically self-organized optical parametric oscillator

Strong temporal hysteresis effects in the population kinetics of pumped and scattered lower polaritons (LPs) have been observed in a planar semiconductor microcavity under a nanosecond-long pulsed resonant excitation (by frequency and angle) near the inflection point of the LPs' dispersion. The hysteresis loops have a complicated shape due to the interplay of two instabilities. The self-instability (bistability) of the nonlinear pumped LP is accompanied by a strong parametric instability which causes an explosive growth of the scattered LPs' population over a wide range of wave vectors. Finally, after a 30-500 ps period, a three-mode scattering pattern forms, thereby demonstrating a dynamically self-organized regime of the optical parametric oscillator. Stability is maintained by the presence of numerous weak "above-condensate" modes; the whole system therefore appears to be highly correlated.