One-dimensional polaritons with size-tunable and enhanced coupling strengths in semiconductor nanowires

Strong coupling of light with excitons in direct bandgap semiconductors leads to the formation of composite photonic-electronic quasi-particles (polaritons), in which energy oscillates coherently between the photonic and excitonic states with the vacuum Rabi frequency. The light-matter coherence is...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2011-06, Vol.108 (25), p.10050-10055
Main Authors: van Vugt, Lambert K, Piccione, Brian, Cho, Chang-Hee, Nukala, Pavan, Agarwal, Ritesh
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Band gap
Cadmium Compounds - chemistry
condensation (phase transition)
Crystal oscillators
Crystals
Electronics
energy
Excitons
Light
Luminescence
Materials Testing
Models, Theoretical
Nanowires
Oscillator strengths
Photochemistry
Photonics
Photons
Physical Sciences
Polaritons
Quantum Dots
Semiconductors
Sulfides - chemistry
Surface Properties
temperature
Wave dispersion
Waveguides
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Summary:Strong coupling of light with excitons in direct bandgap semiconductors leads to the formation of composite photonic-electronic quasi-particles (polaritons), in which energy oscillates coherently between the photonic and excitonic states with the vacuum Rabi frequency. The light-matter coherence is maintained until the oscillator dephases or the photon escapes. Exciton-polariton formation has enabled the observation of Bose-Einstein condensation in the solid-state, low-threshold polariton lasing and is also useful for terahertz and slow-light applications. However, maintaining coherence for higher carrier concentration and temperature applications still requires increased coupling strengths. Here, we report on size-tunable, exceptionally high exciton-polariton coupling strengths characterized by a vacuum Rabi splitting of up to 200 meV as well as a reduction in group velocity, in surface-passivated, self-assembled semiconductor nanowire cavities. These experiments represent systematic investigations on light-matter coupling in one-dimensional optical nanocavities, demonstrating the ability to engineer light-matter coupling strengths at the nanoscale, even in non-quantum-confined systems, to values much higher than in bulk.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1102212108