Electromagnetically induced transparency in bulk and microcavity semiconductors

We discuss our recent results on electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) effects based on intrinsic free exciton and biexciton states in semiconductors. The Λ configuration obtained from the 1S and 2P yellow exciton levels of Cu₂O leads to a well-developed EIT regime, akin to the atomic case. The coherent driving of the exciton–biexciton transition in CuCl induces a tunable transparency window within the polaritonic stop-band, due to the presence of a third polariton branch in the dressed system. In a microcavity configuration, this gives rise to three reflectivity dips in the strong coupling regime.