Elliptical micropillars for efficient generation and detection of coherent acoustic phonons

Coherent acoustic phonon generation and detection assisted by optical resonances are at the core of efficient optophononic transduction processes. However, when dealing with a single optical resonance, the optimum generation and detection conditions take place at different laser wavelengths, i.e. different detunings from the cavity mode. In this work, we theoretically propose and experimentally demonstrate the use of elliptical micropillars to reach these conditions simultaneously at a single wavelength. Elliptical micropillar optophononic resonators present two optical modes with orthogonal polarizations at different wavelengths. By employing a cross-polarized scheme pump-probe experiment, we exploit the mode splitting and couple the pump beam to one mode while the probe is detuned from the other one. In this way, at a particular micropillar ellipticity, both phonon generation and detection processes are enhanced. We report an enhancement of a factor of ~3.1 when comparing the signals from elliptical and circular micropillars. Our findings constitute a step forward in tailoring the light-matter interaction for more efficient ultrahigh-frequency optophononic devices

Generation and Spatial Control of Hybrid Tamm Plasmon/Surface Plasmon Modes

In this Letter we experimentally demonstrate the coupling between Tamm plasmon and surface plasmon modes in a metal/semiconductor integrated microstructure. The Tamm plasmon mode is excited by the photoluminescence of quantum dots grown in the top part of a dielectric Bragg mirror covered by a silver layer. The hybrid nature of such a Tamm plasmon/surface plasmon mode is demonstrated by the observation of a spatial beating along the propagation. Experimental results are in very good agreement with numerical calculations. We show how such a structure can be used and further optimized to create surface plasmons through electrical pumping. These results pave the way to a new generation of hybrid metal/semiconductor integrated optical devices for both energy-sensitive surface detection and electrical excitation of surface plasmons

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The Supplemental Document provides details on the theoretical model used to simulate the polarization tomography experiment

Supplement 1: Scalable performance in solid-state single-photon sources

We deduce area distribution; show visibility power-dependence; deduce a model for visibility versus temporal distance; and describe how indistinguishability is obtained with the resonant-excitation method. Originally published in Optica on 20 April 2016 (optica-3-4-433