Realization of a double-barrier resonant tunneling diode for cavity polaritons

Long-Range Ballistic Propagation of 80% Excitonic Fraction Polaritons in a Perovskite Metasurface at Room Temperature

Exciton-polaritons, hybrid light-matter excitations arising from the strong coupling between excitons in semiconductors and photons in photonic nanostructures, are crucial for exploring the physics of quantum fluids of light and developing all-optical devices. Achieving room temperature propagation of polaritons with a large excitonic fraction is challenging but vital, e.g., for nonlinear light transport. We report on room temperature propagation of exciton-polaritons in a metasurface made from a subwavelength lattice of perovskite pillars. The large Rabi splitting, much greater than the optical phonon energy, decouples the lower polariton band from the phonon bath of the perovskite. These cooled polaritons, in combination with the high group velocity achieved through the metasurface design, enable long-range propagation, exceeding hundreds of micrometers even with an 80% excitonic component. Furthermore, the design of the metasurface introduces an original mechanism for unidirectional propagation through polarization control, suggesting a new avenue for the development of advanced polaritonic devices.

Realization of photonic time crystals via spin bifurcations of exciton-polariton condensates

We have theoretically realized a photonic time crystal in a homogeneous spinor exciton-polariton condensate subject to a cavity strain induced energy splitting between the x- and y-polarized polaritons with distinct loss rates. Numerical modeling based on the time-dependent open dissipative Gross-Pitaevskii equation results in the phase transition from linearly-polarized spinor condensate at low pump powers into a circularly-polarized one and then a photonic time crystal at higher pump powers. This phenomenon occurs only under the condition that the lower-energy x-polarized condensate has a higher loss rate than the y-polaried condensate, which can exist intrinsically in the semiconductor microcavities.

A path towards single molecule vibrational strong coupling in a Fabry-Pérot microcavity

Interaction between light and molecular vibrations leads to hybrid light-matter states called vibrational polaritons. Even though many intriguing phenomena have been predicted for single-molecule vibrational strong coupling (VSC), several studies suggest that these effects tend to be diminished in the many-molecule regime due to the presence of dark states. Achieving single or few-molecule vibrational polaritons has been constrained by the need for fabricating extremely small mode volume infrared cavities. In this theoretical work, we propose an alternative strategy to achieve single-molecule VSC in a cavity-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (CERS) setup, based on the physics of cavity optomechanics. We then present a scheme harnessing few-molecule VSC to thermodynamically couple two reactions, such that a spontaneous electron transfer can now fuel a thermodynamically uphill reaction that was non-spontaneous outside the cavity.

Polaron-Enhanced Polariton Nonlinearity in Lead Halide Perovskites

Exciton-polaritons offer a versatile platform for realization of all-optical integrated logic gates due to the strong effective optical nonlinearity resulting from the exciton-exciton interactions. In most of the current excitonic materials there exists a direct connection between the exciton robustness to thermal fluctuations and the strength of the exciton-exciton interaction, making materials with the highest levels of exciton nonlinearity applicable at cryogenic temperatures only. Here, we show that strong polaronic effects, characteristic for perovskite materials, allow overcoming this limitation. Namely, we demonstrate a record-high value of the nonlinear optical response in the nanostructured organic-inorganic halide perovskite MAPbI₃, experimentally detected as a 19.7 meV blueshift of the polariton branch under femtosecond laser irradiation. This is substantially higher than characteristic values for the samples based on conventional semiconductors and monolayers of transition-metal dichalcogenides. The observed strong polaron-enhanced nonlinearity exists for both tetragonal and orthorhombic phases of MAPbI₃ and remains stable at elevated temperatures.

Strong coupling of excitons in patterned few-layer WS2 with guided mode and bound state in the continuum

The strong coupling of excitons in few-layer transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) with guided mode resonance (GMR) and bound state in the continuum (BIC) is investigated. It is shown that the strong coupling between excitons and GMR or BIC can enable a large Rabi splitting, where up to 155 meV or 162 meV Rabi splitting could be realized through changing the grating period, respectively. The physical origins behind this behavior are revealed by studying the electric field distributions at resonance. In addition, such behaviors are further theoretically verified according to the coupled-oscillator model. Moreover, the effect of the geometric dimensions on the strong coupling is also studied, which can be employed to guide real fabrication. The results will provide a new route for realization of few-layer TMDC-based light-matter interactions and may pave the way toward novel, compact, few-layer TMDC-based polaritonic devices.

Engineering Photon Statistics in a Spinor Polariton Condensate

We implement full polarization tomography on photon correlations in a spinor exciton-polariton condensate. Our measurements reveal condensate pseudospin mean-field dynamics spanning from stochastic switching between linear polarization components, limit cycles, and stable fixed points, and their intrinsic relation to the condensate photon statistics. We optically harness the cavity birefringence, polariton interactions, and the optical orientation of an incoherent exciton reservoir to engineer photon statistics with precise control. Our results demonstrate a smooth transition from a highly coherent to a super-thermal state of the condensate polarization components.

All-optical switching based on interacting exciton polaritons in self-assembled perovskite microwires

Ultrafast all-optical switches and integrated circuits call for giant optical nonlinearity to minimize energy consumption and footprint. Exciton polaritons underpin intrinsic strong nonlinear interactions and high-speed propagation in solids, thus affording an intriguing platform for all-optical devices. However, semiconductors sustaining stable exciton polaritons at room temperature usually exhibit restricted nonlinearity and/or propagation properties. Delocalized and strongly interacting Wannier-Mott excitons in metal halide perovskites highlight their advantages in integrated nonlinear optical devices. Here, we report all-optical switching by using propagating and strongly interacting exciton-polariton fluids in self-assembled CsPbBr₃ microwires. Strong polariton-polariton interactions and extended polariton fluids with a propagation length of around 25 μm have been reached. All-optical switching on/off of polariton propagation can be realized in picosecond time scale by locally blue-shifting the dispersion with interacting polaritons. The all-optical switching, together with the scalable self-assembly method, highlights promising applications of solution-processed perovskites toward integrated photonics operating in strong coupling regime.

Propagative Oscillations in Codirectional Polariton Waveguide Couplers

We report on novel exciton-polariton routing devices created to study and purposely guide light-matter particles in their condensate phase. In a codirectional coupling device, two waveguides are connected by a partially etched section that facilitates tunable coupling of the adjacent channels. This evanescent coupling of the two macroscopic wave functions in each waveguide reveals itself in real space oscillations of the condensate. This Josephson-like oscillation has only been observed in coupled polariton traps so far. Here, we report on a similar coupling behavior in a controllable, propagative waveguide-based design. By controlling the gap width, channel length, or propagation energy, the exit port of the polariton flow can be chosen. This codirectional polariton device is a passive and scalable coupler element that can serve in compact, next generation logic architectures.

Mediated Interactions and Photon Bound States in an Exciton-Polariton Mixture

The quest to realize strongly interacting photons remains an outstanding challenge both for fundamental science and for applications. Here, we explore mediated photon-photon interactions in a highly imbalanced two-component mixture of exciton polaritons in a semiconductor microcavity. Using a theory that takes into account nonperturbative correlations between the excitons as well as strong light-matter coupling, we demonstrate the high tunability of an effective interaction between quasiparticles formed by minority component polaritons interacting with a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of a majority component polaritons. In particular, the interaction, which is mediated by sound modes in the BEC can be made strong enough to support a bound state of two quasiparticles. Since these quasiparticles consist partly of photons, this in turn corresponds to a dimer state of photons propagating through the BEC. This gives rise to a new light transmission line where the dimer wave function is directly mapped onto correlations between the photons. Our findings open new routes for highly nonlinear optical materials and novel hybrid light-matter quantum systems.

Directing random lasing emission using cavity exciton-polaritons

Random lasing is an intriguing phenomenon occurring in disordered structures with optical gain in which light scattering provides the necessary feedback for lasing action. Unlike conventional lasers, random lasing systems emit in all directions due to light scattering. While this property can be desired in some cases, directional emission remains required for most applications. In a vertical microcavity containing the hybrid perovskite CH₃NH₃PbBr₃, we report here the coupling of the emission of a random laser with a cavity polaritonic resonance, resulting in a directional random lasing, whose emission angles can be tuned by varying the cavity detuning and reach values as large as 15.8^° and 22.4^°.

Polariton Electric-Field Sensor

We experimentally demonstrate a dipolar polariton based electric-field sensor. We tune and optimize the sensitivity of the sensor by varying the dipole moment of polaritons. We show polariton interactions play an important role in determining the conditions for optimal electric-field sensing, and achieve a sensitivity of 0.12   V m^{-1} Hz^{-0.5}. Finally, we apply the sensor to illustrate that excitation of polaritons modifies the electric field in a spatial region much larger than the optical excitation spot.

Optical Control of Couplings in Polariton Condensate Lattices

We demonstrate deterministic control of the nearest and next-nearest neighbor coupling in the unit cell of a square lattice of microcavity exciton-polariton condensates. We tune the coupling in a continuous and reversible manner by optically imprinting potential barriers of variable height, in the form of spatially localized incoherent exciton reservoirs that modify the particle flow between condensates. By controlling the couplings in a 2×2 polariton cluster, we realize ferromagnetic, antiferromagnetic, and paired ferromagnetic phases and demonstrate the potential scalability of the system.

Tailoring Dispersion of Room-Temperature Exciton-Polaritons with Perovskite-Based Subwavelength Metasurfaces

Exciton-polaritons represent a promising platform for studying quantum fluids of light and realizing prospective all-optical devices. Here we report on the experimental demonstration of exciton-polaritons at room temperature in resonant metasurfaces made from a sub-wavelength two-dimensional lattice of perovskite pillars. The strong coupling regime is revealed by both angular-resolved reflectivity and photoluminescence measurements, showing anticrossing between photonic modes and the exciton resonance with a Rabi splitting in the 200 meV range. Moreover, by tailoring the photonic Bloch mode to which perovskite excitons are coupled, polaritonic dispersions are engineered exhibiting linear, parabolic, and multivalley dispersions. All of our results are perfectly reproduced by both numerical simulations based on a rigorous coupled wave analysis and an elementary model based on a quantum theory of radiation-matter interaction. Our results suggest a new approach to study exciton-polaritons and pave the way toward large-scale and low-cost integrated polaritonic devices operating at room temperature.

All-optical control of exciton flow in a colloidal quantum well complex

Excitonics, an alternative to romising for processing information since semiconductor electronics is rapidly approaching the end of Moore's law. Currently, the development of excitonic devices, where exciton flow is controlled, is mainly focused on electric-field modulation or exciton polaritons in high-Q cavities. Here, we show an all-optical strategy to manipulate the exciton flow in a binary colloidal quantum well complex through mediation of the Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) by stimulated emission. In the spontaneous emission regime, FRET naturally occurs between a donor and an acceptor. In contrast, upon stronger excitation, the ultrafast consumption of excitons by stimulated emission effectively engineers the excitonic flow from the donors to the acceptors. Specifically, the acceptors' stimulated emission significantly accelerates the exciton flow, while the donors' stimulated emission almost stops this process. On this basis, a FRET-coupled rate equation model is derived to understand the controllable exciton flow using the density of the excited donors and the unexcited acceptors. The results will provide an effective all-optical route for realizing excitonic devices under room temperature operation.

Geometric Effects of a Quarter of Corrugated Torus

In the spirit of the thin-layer quantization scheme, we give the effective Shrödinger equation for a particle confined to a corrugated torus, in which the geometric potential is substantially changed by corrugation. We find the attractive wells reconstructed by the corrugation not being at identical depths, which is strikingly different from that of a corrugated nanotube, especially in the inner side of the torus. By numerically calculating the transmission probability, we find that the resonant tunneling peaks and the transmission gaps are merged and broadened by the corrugation of the inner side of torus. These results show that the quarter corrugated torus can be used not only to connect two tubes with different radiuses in different directions, but also to filter the particles with particular incident energies.

Room temperature long-range coherent exciton polariton condensate flow in lead halide perovskites

Novel technological applications significantly favor alternatives to electrons toward constructing low power-consuming, high-speed all-optical integrated optoelectronic devices. Polariton condensates, exhibiting high-speed coherent propagation and spin-based behavior, attract considerable interest for implementing the basic elements of integrated optoelectronic devices: switching, transport, and logic. However, the implementation of this coherent polariton condensate flow is typically limited to cryogenic temperatures, constrained by small exciton binding energy in most semiconductor microcavities. Here, we demonstrate the capability of long-range nonresonantly excited polariton condensate flow at room temperature in a one-dimensional all-inorganic cesium lead bromide (CsPbBr3) perovskite microwire microcavity. The polariton condensate exhibits high-speed propagation over macroscopic distances of 60 μm while still preserving the long-range off-diagonal order. Our findings pave the way for using coherent polariton condensate flow for all-optical integrated logic circuits and polaritonic devices operating at room temperature.

Symmetry Breaking in Photonic Crystals: On-Demand Dispersion from Flatband to Dirac Cones

We demonstrate that symmetry breaking opens a new degree of freedom to tailor energy-momentum dispersion in photonic crystals. Using a general theoretical framework in two illustrative practical structures, we show that breaking symmetry enables an on-demand tuning of the local density of states of the same photonic band from zero (Dirac cone dispersion) to infinity (flatband dispersion), as well as any constant density over an adjustable spectral range. As a proof of concept, we demonstrate experimentally the transformation of the very same photonic band from a conventional quadratic shape to a Dirac dispersion, a flatband dispersion, and a multivalley one. This transition is achieved by finely tuning the vertical symmetry breaking of the photonic structures. Our results provide an unprecedented degree of freedom for optical dispersion engineering in planar integrated photonic devices.

Atomic-Monolayer Two-Dimensional Lateral Quasi-Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors with Resonant Tunneling Phenomenon

High-frequency operation with ultrathin, lightweight, and extremely flexible semiconducting electronics is highly desirable for the development of mobile devices, wearable electronic systems, and defense technologies. In this work, the experimental observation of quasi-heterojunction bipolar transistors utilizing a monolayer of the lateral WSe₂-MoS₂ junctions as the conducting p-n channel is demonstrated. Both lateral n-p-n and p-n-p heterojunction bipolar transistors are fabricated to exhibit the output characteristics and current gain. A maximum common-emitter current gain of around 3 is obtained in our prototype two-dimensional quasi-heterojunction bipolar transistors. Interestingly, we also observe the negative differential resistance in the electrical characteristics. A potential mechanism is that the negative differential resistance is induced by resonant tunneling phenomenon due to the formation of quantum well under applying high bias voltages. Our results open the door to two-dimensional materials for high-frequency, high-speed, high-density, and flexible electronics.

Quantum many-body simulation using monolayer exciton-polaritons in coupled-cavities

Quantum simulation is a promising approach to understanding complex strongly correlated many-body systems using relatively simple and tractable systems. Photon-based quantum simulators have great advantages due to the possibility of direct measurements of multi-particle correlations and ease of simulating non-equilibrium physics. However, interparticle interaction in existing photonic systems is often too weak, limiting the potential for quantum simulation. Here we propose an approach to enhance the interparticle interaction using exciton-polaritons in MoS₂ monolayer quantum dots embedded in 2D photonic crystal microcavities. Realistic calculation yields optimal repulsive interaction in the range of 1-10 meV-more than an order of magnitude greater than the state-of-the-art value. Such strong repulsive interaction is found to emerge neither in the photon-blockade regime for small quantum dot nor in the polariton-blockade regime for large quantum dot, but in the crossover between the two regimes with a moderate quantum-dot radius around 20 nm. The optimal repulsive interaction is found to be largest in MoS₂ among commonly used optoelectronic materials. Quantum simulation of strongly correlated many-body systems in a finite chain of coupled cavities and its experimental signature are studied via the exact diagonalization of the many-body Hamiltonian. A method to simulate 1D superlattices for interacting exciton-polariton gases in serially coupled cavities is also proposed. Realistic considerations on experimental realizations reveal advantages of transition metal dichalcogenide monolayer quantum dots over conventional semiconductor quantum emitters.

Spin Order and Phase Transitions in Chains of Polariton Condensates

We demonstrate that multiply coupled spinor polariton condensates can be optically tuned through a sequence of spin-ordered phases by changing the coupling strength between nearest neighbors. For closed four-condensate chains these phases span from ferromagnetic (FM) to antiferromagnetic (AFM), separated by an unexpected crossover phase. This crossover phase is composed of alternating FM-AFM bonds. For larger eight-condensate chains, we show the critical role of spatial inhomogeneities and demonstrate a scheme to overcome them and prepare any desired spin state. Our observations thus demonstrate a fully controllable nonequilibrium spin lattice.

High-speed flow of interacting organic polaritons

The strong coupling of an excitonic transition with an electromagnetic mode results in composite quasi-particles called exciton polaritons, which have been shown to combine the best properties of their individual components in semiconductor microcavities. However, the physics and applications of polariton flows in organic materials and at room temperature are still unexplored because of the poor photon confinement in such structures. Here, we demonstrate that polaritons formed by the hybridization of organic excitons with a Bloch surface wave are able to propagate for hundreds of microns showing remarkable third-order nonlinear interactions upon high injection density. These findings pave the way for the study of organic nonlinear light-matter fluxes and for a technologically promising route of the realization of dissipation-less on-chip polariton devices operating at room temperature.

Enhancement of thermal spin transfer torque by double-barrier magnetic tunnel junctions with a nonmagnetic metal spacer

Enhancement of thermal spin transfer torque in a double-barrier magnetic tunnel junction with a nonmagnetic-metal spacer is proposed in this study. The results indicate that, given the same temperature difference, thermal spin transfer torque and charge current density for the proposed double barrier magnetic tunnel junction configuration can be approximately twice as much as that of the traditional single-barrier magnetic tunnel junctions. This enhancement can be attributed to the resonant tunneling mechanism in the double-barrier structure.

Exciton-polariton trapping and potential landscape engineering

Exciton-polaritons in semiconductor microcavities have become a model system for the studies of dynamical Bose-Einstein condensation, macroscopic coherence, many-body effects, nonclassical states of light and matter, and possibly quantum phase transitions in a solid state. These low-mass bosonic quasiparticles can condense at comparatively high temperatures up to 300 K, and preserve the fundamental properties of the condensate, such as coherence in space and time domain, even when they are out of equilibrium with the environment. Although the presence of a confining potential is not strictly necessary in order to observe Bose-Einstein condensation, engineering of the polariton confinement is a key to controlling, shaping, and directing the flow of polaritons. Prototype polariton-based optoelectronic devices rely on ultrafast photon-like velocities and strong nonlinearities exhibited by polaritons, as well as on their tailored confinement. Nanotechnology provides several pathways to achieving polariton confinement, and the specific features and advantages of different methods are discussed in this review. Being hybrid exciton-photon quasiparticles, polaritons can be trapped via their excitonic as well as photonic component, which leads to a wide choice of highly complementary trapping techniques. Here, we highlight the almost free choice of the confinement strengths and trapping geometries that provide powerful means for control and manipulation of the polariton systems both in the semi-classical and quantum regimes. Furthermore, the possibilities to observe effects of the polariton blockade, Mott insulator physics, and population of higher-order energy bands in sophisticated lattice potentials are discussed. Observation of such effects could lead to realization of novel polaritonic non-classical light sources and quantum simulators.

The road towards polaritonic devices

Polaritons are quasiparticles that form in semiconductors when an elementary excitation such as an exciton or a phonon interacts sufficiently strongly with light. In particular, exciton-polaritons have attracted tremendous attention for their unique properties, spanning from an ability to undergo ultra-efficient four-wave mixing to superfluidity in the condensed state. These quasiparticles possess strong intrinsic nonlinearities, while keeping most characteristics of the underlying photons. Here we review the most important features of exciton-polaritons in microcavities, with a particular emphasis on the emerging technological applications, the use of new materials for room-temperature operation, and the possibility of exploiting polaritons for quantum computation and simulation.

Observation of Dielectrically Confined Excitons in Ultrathin GaN Nanowires up to Room Temperature

The realization of semiconductor structures with stable excitons at room temperature is crucial for the development of excitonics and polaritonics. Quantum confinement has commonly been employed for enhancing excitonic effects in semiconductor heterostructures. Dielectric confinement, which gives rises to much stronger enhancement, has proven to be more difficult to achieve because of the rapid nonradiative surface/interface recombination in hybrid dielectric-semiconductor structures. Here, we demonstrate intense excitonic emission from bare GaN nanowires with diameters down to 6 nm. The large dielectric mismatch between the nanowires and vacuum greatly enhances the Coulomb interaction, with the thinnest nanowires showing the strongest dielectric confinement and the highest radiative efficiency at room temperature. In situ monitoring of the fabrication of these structures allows one to accurately control the degree of dielectric enhancement. These ultrathin nanowires may constitute the basis for the fabrication of advanced low-dimensional structures with an unprecedented degree of confinement.

Multi-stability and polariton solitons in microcavity wires

Nonlinear polaritons in microcavity wires are demonstrated to exhibit multi-stable behavior and rich dynamics, including filamentation and soliton formation. We find that the multi-stability originates from co-existence of different transverse cavity modes. Modulational stability and conditions for multi-mode polariton solitons are studied. Soliton propagation in tilted, relative to the pump momentum, microcavity wires is demonstrated, and a critical tilt angle for the soliton propagation is found.

Analytical solution for the anisotropic Rabi model: effects of counter-rotating terms

The anisotropic Rabi model, which was proposed recently, differs from the original Rabi model: the rotating and counter-rotating terms are governed by two different coupling constants. This feature allows us to vary the counter-rotating interaction independently and explore the effects of it on some quantum properties. In this paper, we eliminate the counter-rotating terms approximately and obtain the analytical energy spectrums and wavefunctions. These analytical results agree well with the numerical calculations in a wide range of the parameters including the ultrastrong coupling regime. In the weak counter-rotating coupling limit we find out that the counter-rotating terms can be considered as the shifts to the parameters of the Jaynes-Cummings model. This modification shows the validness of the rotating-wave approximation on the assumption of near-resonance and relatively weak coupling. Moreover, the analytical expressions of several physics quantities are also derived, and the results show the break-down of the U(1)-symmetry and the deviation from the Jaynes-Cummings model.

Towards GHz-THz cavity optomechanics in DBR-based semiconductor resonators

Resonators based on acoustic distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) were optimized to work in the GHz-THz regime, and grown by molecular beam epitaxy. We show that in structures made of GaAlAs alloys a simultaneous optimal confinement of light in the visible range and phonons in the tens of GHz range can be achieved. We report time resolved differential optical reflectivity experiments performed with fs-ps laser pulses. The experimental results are in excellent agreement with simulations based on standard transfer matrix methods. The resonant behavior of the photoelastic coefficient is discussed. The perfect optic-acoustic mode overlapping, added to a strongly enhanced coupling mechanism, implies that these DBR-based cavities could be the base of highly efficient optomechanical resonators.

Acoustic black hole in a stationary hydrodynamic flow of microcavity polaritons

We report an experimental study of superfluid hydrodynamic effects in a one-dimensional polariton fluid flowing along a laterally patterned semiconductor microcavity and hitting a micron-sized engineered defect. At high excitation power, superfluid propagation effects are observed in the polariton dynamics; in particular, a sharp acoustic horizon is formed at the defect position, separating regions of sub- and supersonic flow. Our experimental findings are quantitatively reproduced by theoretical calculations based on a generalized Gross-Pitaevskii equation. Promising perspectives to observe Hawking radiation via photon correlation measurements are illustrated.

Harnessing the polariton drag effect to design an electrically controlled optical switch

We propose a design of a Y-shaped electrically controlled optical switch based on the studies of propagation of an exciton-polariton condensate in a patterned optical microcavity with an embedded quantum well. The polaritons are driven by a time-independent force due to the microcavity wedge shape and by a time-dependent drag force owing to the interaction of excitons in a quantum well and the electric current running in a neighboring quantum well. It is demonstrated that by applying the drag force one can direct more than 90% of the polariton flow toward the desired branch of the switch with no hysteresis. By considering the transient dynamics of the polariton condensate, we estimate the response speed of the switch as 9.1 GHz. We also propose a design of the polariton switch in a flat microcavity based on the geometrically identical Y-shaped quantum wells where the polariton flow is only induced by the drag force. The latter setup enables one to design a multiway switch that can act as an electrically controlled optical transistor with on and off functions. Finally, we performed the simulations for a microcavity with an embedded gapped graphene layer and demonstrated that in this case the response speed of the switch can be increased up to 14 GHz for the same switch size. The simulations also show that the energy gap in the quasiparticle spectrum in graphene can be utilized as an additional parameter that controls the propagation of the signals in the switch.

Discrete photonics resonator in coupled waveguide arrays

We demonstrate both theoretically and experimentally that discrete diffraction resonance can be designed, fabricated, and successfully probed in functionalized - guidonic - coupled waveguide arrays. We evidence that double-barrier patterning of the coupling creates wavelength-independent angular tunnel resonance in the transmitted and the reflected intensity of light beams freely propagating in the plane of the array. Transmission peaks obtained are associated with resonant excitation of the engineered array bound supermodes of the functionalized array, in agreement with accurate and practical numerical modeling based on extended coupled-mode theory. The linear operation of the guidonic resonant tunneling double barrier makes up an original resonator for discrete photonics, suitable for all-optical control of light.

Resonant tunneling through discrete quantum states in stacked atomic-layered MoS2

Two-dimensional crystals can be assembled into three-dimensional stacks with atomic layer precision, which have already shown plenty of fascinating physical phenomena and been used for prototype vertical-field-effect-transistors.1,2 In this work, interlayer electron tunneling in stacked high-quality crystalline MoS2 films were investigated. A trilayered MoS2 film was sandwiched between top and bottom electrodes with an adjacent bottom gate, and the discrete energy levels in each layer could be tuned by bias and gate voltages. When the discrete energy levels aligned, a resonant tunneling peak appeared in the current-voltage characteristics. The peak position shifts linearly with perpendicular magnetic field, indicating formation of Landau levels. From this linear dependence, the effective mass and Fermi velocity are determined and are confirmed by electronic structure calculations. These fundamental parameters are useful for exploitation of its unique properties.

Fractal energy spectrum of a polariton gas in a Fibonacci quasiperiodic potential

We report on the study of a polariton gas confined in a quasiperiodic one-dimensional cavity, described by a Fibonacci sequence. Imaging the polariton modes both in real and reciprocal space, we observe features characteristic of their fractal energy spectrum such as the opening of minigaps obeying the gap labeling theorem and log-periodic oscillations of the integrated density of states. These observations are accurately reproduced solving an effective 1D Schrödinger equation, illustrating the potential of cavity polaritons as a quantum simulator in complex topological geometries.

Ultrafast Stark-induced polaritonic switches

A laser pulse, several meV red detuned from the excitonic line of a quantum well, has been shown to induce an almost instantaneous and rigid shift of the lower and upper polariton branches. Here we demonstrate that through this shift ultrafast all-optical control of the polariton population in a semiconductor microcavity should be achievable. In the proposed setup, a Stark field is used to bring the lower polariton branch in or out of resonance with a quasiresonant continuous-wave laser, thereby favoring or inhibiting the injection of polaritons into the cavity. Moreover, we show that this technique allows for the implementation of optical switches with extremely high repetition rates.

All-optical phase modulation in a cavity-polariton Mach-Zehnder interferometer

Quantum fluids based on light is a highly developing research field, since they provide a nonlinear platform for developing optical functionalities and quantum simulators. An important issue in this context is the ability to coherently control the properties of the fluid. Here we propose an all-optical approach for controlling the phase of a flow of cavity-polaritons, making use of their strong interactions with localized excitons. Here we illustrate the potential of this method by implementing a compact exciton-polariton interferometer, which output intensity and polarization can be optically controlled. This interferometer is cascadable with already reported polariton devices and is promising for future polaritonic quantum optic experiments. Complex phase patterns could be also engineered using this optical method, providing a key tool to build photonic artificial gauge fields.