Optical bistability of semiconductor microcavities in the strong-coupling regime

Unified Description of Saturation and Bistability of Intersubband Transitions in the Weak and Strong Light-Matter Coupling Regimes

We propose a unified description of intersubband absorption saturation for quantum wells inserted in a resonator, both in the weak and strong light-matter coupling regimes. We demonstrate how absorption saturation can be engineered. In particular, we show that the saturation intensity increases linearly with the doping in the strong coupling regime, while it remains doping independent in weak coupling. Hence, countering intuition, the most suitable region to exploit low saturation intensities is not the ultrastrong coupling regime, but is instead at the onset of the strong light-matter coupling. We further derive explicit conditions for the emergence of bistability. This Letter sets the path toward, as yet, nonexistent ultrafast midinfrared semiconductor saturable absorption mirrors (SESAMs) and bistable systems. As an example, we show how to design a midinfrared SESAM with a 3 orders of magnitude reduction in saturation intensity, down to ≈5  kW cm^{-2}.

Polariton solitons and nonlinear localized states in a one-dimensional semiconductor microcavity

This paper presents numerical studies of cavity polariton solitons (CPSs) in a resonantly pumped semiconductor microcavity with an imbedded spatial defect. In the bistable regime of the well-known homogeneous polariton condensate, with proper incident wave vector and pump strength, bright and/or dark cavity solitons can be found in the presence of a spatially confined potential. The minimum pump strength required to observe the CPSs or nonlinear localized states in this parametric pump scheme is therefore reported.

Creation and Manipulation of Stable Dark Solitons and Vortices in Microcavity Polariton Condensates

Solitons and vortices obtain widespread attention in different physical systems as they offer potential use in information storage, processing, and communication. In exciton-polariton condensates in semiconductor microcavities, solitons and vortices can be created optically. However, dark solitons are unstable and vortices cannot be spatially controlled. In the present work we demonstrate the existence of stable dark solitons and vortices under nonresonant incoherent excitation of a polariton condensate with a simple spatially periodic pump. In one dimension, we show that an additional coherent light pulse can be used to create or destroy a dark soliton in a controlled manner. In two dimensions we demonstrate that a coherent light beam can be used to move a vortex to a specific position on the lattice or be set into motion by simply switching the periodic pump structure from two-dimensional (lattice) to one-dimensional (stripes). Our theoretical results open up exciting possibilities for optical on-demand generation and control of dark solitons and vortices in polariton condensates.

Determination of nonlinear nanomechanical resonator-qubit coupling coefficient in a hybrid quantum system

We have theoretically investigated a hybrid system that is composed of a traditional optomechanical component and an additional charge qubit (Cooper pair box) that induces a new nonlinear interaction. It is shown that the peak in optomechanically induced transparency has been split by the new nonlinear interaction, and the width of the splitting is proportional to the coupling coefficient of this nonlinear interaction. This may give a way to measure the nanomechanical oscillator-qubit coupling coefficient in hybrid quantum systems.

Microcavity with saturable nonlinearity under simultaneous resonant and nonresonant pumping: multistability, Hopf bifurcations and chaotic behaviour

We studied optical response of microcavity non-equilibrium exciton-polariton Bose-Einstein condensate with saturable nonlinearity under simultaneous resonant and non-resonant pumping. We demonstrated the emergence of multistabile behavior due to the saturation of the excitonic absorption. Stable periodic Rabi-type oscillations of the excitonic and photonic condensate components in the regime of the stationary pump and their transition to the chaotic dynamics through the cascade of Hopf bifurcations by tuning of the electrical pump are revealed.

Optical stark effects in j-aggregate-metal hybrid nanostructures exhibiting a strong exciton-surface-plasmon-polariton interaction

We report on the observation of optical Stark effects in J-aggregate-metal hybrid nanostructures exhibiting strong exciton-surface-plasmon-polariton coupling. For redshifted nonresonant excitation, pump-probe spectra show short-lived dispersive line shapes of the exciton-surface-plasmon-polariton coupled modes caused by a pump-induced Stark shift of the polariton resonances. For larger coupling strengths, the sign of the Stark shift is reversed by a transient reduction in normal mode splitting. Our studies demonstrate an approach to coherently control and largely enhance optical Stark effects in strongly coupled hybrid systems. This may be useful for applications in ultrafast all-optical switching.

Effects of spin-dependent interactions on polarization of bright polariton solitons

We report on the spin properties of bright polariton solitons supported by an external pump to compensate losses. We observe robust circularly polarized solitons when a circularly polarized pump is applied, a result attributed to phase synchronization between nondegenerate TE and TM polarized polariton modes at high momenta. For the case of a linearly polarized pump, either σ+ or σ- circularly polarized bright solitons can be switched on in a controlled way by a σ+ or σ- writing beam, respectively. This feature arises directly from the widely differing interaction strengths between co- and cross-circularly polarized polaritons. In the case of orthogonally linearly polarized pump and writing beams, the soliton emission on average is found to be unpolarized, suggesting strong spatial evolution of the soliton polarization. The observed results are in agreement with theory, which predicts stable circularly polarized solitons and unstable linearly polarized solitons.

Polarization bistability and resultant spin rings in semiconductor microcavities

The transmission of a pump laser resonant with the lower polariton branch of a semiconductor microcavity is shown to be highly dependent on the degree of circular polarization of the pump. Spin dependent anisotropy of polariton-polariton interactions allows the internal polarization to be controlled by varying the pump power. The formation of spatial patterns, spin rings with a high degree of circular polarization, arising as a result of polarization bistability, is observed. A phenomenological model based on effective semiclassical equations of motion provides a good description of the experimental results. Inclusion of interactions with the incoherent exciton reservoir, which provides spin-independent blueshifts of the polariton modes, is found to be essential.

Bright cavity polariton solitons

The lower branch of the dispersion relation of exciton polaritons in semiconductor microcavities, operating in the strong-coupling regime, contains sections of both positive and negative curvature along one spatial direction. We show that this leads to the existence of stable one-dimensional bright microcavity solitons supported by the repulsive polariton nonlinearity. To achieve localization along the second transverse direction we propose to create a special soliton waveguide by changing the cavity detuning and hence the boundary of the soliton existence in such a way that the solitons are allowed only within the stripe of the desired width.

Optical bistability in a GaAs-based polariton diode

We report on a new type of optical nonlinearity in a polariton p-i-n microcavity. Abrupt switching between the strong and weak coupling regime is induced by controlling the electric field within the cavity. As a consequence, bistable cycles are observed for low optical powers (2-3 orders of magnitude less than for Kerr induced bistability). Signatures of switching fronts propagating through the whole 300 x 300 microm2 mesa surface are evidenced.

Polarization multistability of cavity polaritons

New effects of polarization multistability and polarization hysteresis in a coherently driven polariton system in a semiconductor microcavity are predicted and theoretically analyzed. The multistability arises due to polarization-dependent polariton-polariton interactions and can be revealed in polarization resolved photoluminescence experiments. The pumping power required to observe this effect is 4 orders of magnitude lower than the characteristic pumping power in conventional bistable optical systems.