34 research outputs found
Polariton Condensate Transistor Switch
A polariton condensate transistor switch is realized through optical
excitation of a microcavity ridge with two beams. The ballistically ejected
polaritons from a condensate formed at the source are gated using the 20 times
weaker second beam to switch on and off the flux of polaritons. In the absence
of the gate beam the small built-in detuning creates potential landscape in
which ejected polaritons are channelled toward the end of the ridge where they
condense. The low loss photon-like propagation combined with strong
nonlinearities associated with their excitonic component makes polariton based
transistors particularly attractive for the implementation of all-optical
integrated circuits
Phase diagrams of magnetopolariton gases
The magnetic field effect on phase transitions in electrically neutral
bosonic systems is much less studied than those in fermionic systems, such as
superconducting or ferromagnetic phase transitions. Nevertheless, composite
bosons are strongly sensitive to magnetic fields: both their internal structure
and motion as whole particles may be affected. A joint effort of ten
laboratories has been focused on studies of polariton lasers, where
non-equilibrium Bose-Einstein condensates of bosonic quasiparticles,
exciton-polaritons, may appear or disappear under an effect of applied magnetic
fields. Polariton lasers based on pillar or planar microcavities were excited
both optically and electrically. In all cases a pronounced dependence of the
onset to lasing on the magnetic field has been observed. For the sake of
comparison, photon lasing (lasing by an electron-hole plasma) in the presence
of a magnetic field has been studied on the same samples as polariton lasing.
The threshold to photon lasing is essentially governed by the excitonic Mott
transition which appears to be sensitive to magnetic fields too. All the
observed experimental features are qualitatively described within a uniform
model based on coupled diffusion equations for electrons, holes and excitons
and the Gross-Pitaevskii equation for exciton-polariton condensates. Our
research sheds more light on the physics of non-equilibrium Bose-Einstein
condensates and the results manifest high potentiality of polariton lasers for
spin-based quantum logic applications.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figure
Strain-assisted optomechanical coupling of polariton condensate spin to a micromechanical resonator
We report spin and intensity coupling of an exciton-polariton condensate to
the mechanical vibrations of a circular membrane microcavity. We optically
drive the microcavity resonator at the lowest mechanical resonance frequency
while creating an optically-trapped spin-polarized polariton condensate in
different locations on the microcavity, and observe spin and intensity
oscillations of the condensate at the vibration frequency of the resonator.
Spin oscillations are induced by vibrational strain driving, whilst the
modulation of the optical trap due to the displacement of the membrane causes
intensity oscillations in the condensate emission. Our results demonstrate
spin-phonon coupling in a macroscopically coherent condensate
Electrical tuning of nonlinearities in exciton-polariton condensates
S. T. acknowledges the financial support of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation within the framework of the project ARCHERS, P. S. acknowledges support form the bilateral Greece-Russia Polisimulator project cofinanced by Greece and the EU Regional Development Fund, A. T. acknowledges the Russian-Greek support from the project supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of The Russian Federation (Project No. RFMEFI61617X0085).A primary limitation of the intensively researched polaritonic systems compared to their atomic counterparts for the study of strongly correlated phenomena and many-body physics is their relatively weak two-particle interactions compared to disorder. Here, we show how new opportunities to enhance such on-site interactions and nonlinearities arise by tuning the exciton-polariton dipole moment in electrically biased semiconductor microcavities incorporating wide quantum wells. The applied field results in a twofold enhancement of exciton-exciton interactions as well as more efficiently driving relaxation towards low energy polariton states, thus, reducing condensation threshold.PostprintPeer reviewe
Spontaneous spin bifurcations and ferromagnetic phase transitions in a spinor exciton-polariton condensate
We observe a spontaneous parity breaking bifurcation to a ferromagnetic state in a spatially trapped exciton-polariton condensate. At a critical bifurcation density under nonresonant excitation, the whole condensate spontaneously magnetizes and randomly adopts one of two elliptically polarized (up to 95% circularly polarized) states with opposite handedness of polarization. The magnetized condensate remains stable for many seconds at 5 K, but at higher temperatures, it can flip from one magnetic orientation to another. We optically address these states and demonstrate the inversion of the magnetic state by resonantly injecting 100- fold weaker pulses of opposite spin. Theoretically, these phenomena can be well described as spontaneous symmetry breaking of the spin degree of freedom induced by different loss rates of the linear polarizations.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
Observation of bright polariton solitons in a semiconductor microcavity
Microcavity polaritons are composite half-light half-matter quasi-particles,
which have recently been demonstrated to exhibit rich physical properties, such
as non-equilibrium Bose-Einstein condensation, parametric scattering and
superfluidity. At the same time, polaritons have some important advantages over
photons for information processing applications, since their excitonic
component leads to weaker diffraction and stronger inter-particle interactions,
implying, respectively, tighter localization and lower powers for nonlinear
functionality. Here we present the first experimental observations of bright
polariton solitons in a strongly coupled semiconductor microcavity. The
polariton solitons are shown to be non-diffracting high density wavepackets,
that are strongly localised in real space with a corresponding broad spectrum
in momentum space. Unlike solitons known in other matter-wave systems such as
Bose condensed ultracold atomic gases, they are non-equilibrium and rely on a
balance between losses and external pumping. Microcavity polariton solitons are
excited on picosecond timescales, and thus have significant benefits for
ultrafast switching and transfer of information over their light only
counterparts, semiconductor cavity lasers (VCSELs), which have only nanosecond
response time
Economic value of insertable cardiac monitors in unexplained syncope in the United States
Introduction Early use of insertable cardiac monitor (ICM) is recommended for patients with unexplained syncope following initial clinical workup, due to its superior ability to establish symptom-rhythm correlation compared with conventional testing (CONV). However, ICMs incur higher upfront costs, and the impact of additional diagnoses and resulting treatment on downstream costs and outcomes is unclear. We aimed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of ICM compared with CONV for the diagnosis of arrhythmia in patients with unexplained syncope, from a US payer perspective.Methods A Markov model was developed to estimate lifetime costs and benefits of arrhythmia diagnosis with ICM versus CONV, considering all related diagnostic and arrhythmia-related treatment costs and consequences. Cohort characteristics and costs were informed by original claims database analyses. Risks of mortality, syncopal recurrence, injury due to syncope and quality of life consequences from syncopal events were identified from the literature.Results ICM was less costly and more effective than CONV. Most of the observed US$4532 cost savings were attributed to reduced downstream diagnostic testing. For every 1000 patients, ICM was projected to yield an additional 253 arrhythmia diagnoses and lead to treatment in an additional 168 patients. The ICM strategy resulted in overall improved outcomes (0.30 quality-adjusted life years gained), due to a reduction in syncope recurrence and injury resulting from arrhythmia treatment. The results were robust to changes in the base case parameters but sensitive to the model time horizon, underlying probability of syncope recurrence and prevalence of arrhythmias.Conclusions Our model projected that early ICM for the diagnosis of unexplained syncope reduced long-term costs, and led to an improvement in overall clinical outcomes by shortening time to arrhythmia treatment. The cost of ICM was outweighed by savings arising from fewer downstream diagnostic episodes, and the increased cost of treatment was counterbalanced by fewer syncope-related event costs
Electrical tuning of nonlinearities in exciton-polariton condensates
A primary limitation of the intensively researched polaritonic systems compared to their atomic counterparts for the study of strongly correlated phenomena and many-body physics is their relatively weak two-particle interactions compared to disorder. Here, we show how new opportunities to enhance such on-site interactions and nonlinearities arise by tuning the exciton-polariton dipole moment in electrically biased semiconductor microcavities incorporating wide quantum wells. The applied field results in a twofold enhancement of exciton-exciton interactions as well as more efficiently driving relaxation towards low energy polariton states, thus, reducing condensation threshold