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arXiv:1106.4175 · Physical Review B

Bistability and nonequilibrium transitions in the system of cavity polaritons under nanosecond-long resonant excitation

Sergei S. Gavrilov, Andrey S. Brichkin, A. A. Demenev, Alexander Dorodnyy, Sergey I. Novikov, V. D. Kulakovskiĭ, S. G. Tikhodeev, Николай Алексеевич Гиппиус

Published Feb 27, 2012• 32 citations

Abstract

The polarization dependence of nonequilibrium transitions in a multistable cavity-polariton system is studied under nanosecond-long resonant optical excitation at normal and magic angle incidences with various polarizations of the pump beam. The temporal correlations between the frequency, intensity, and optical polarization of the intracavity field, which all undergo sharp threshold-like changes due to the spin-dependent interaction of cavity polaritons, are visualized. The observed dynamics cannot be reproduced within the conventional semiclassical model based on the Gross-Pitaevskii equations. To explain the observed phenomena, it is necessary to take into account the unpolarized exciton reservoir that brings on an additional blue shift of bright excitons, the same for the ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}^{+}$ and ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ polarization components. This model explains the effect of polarization instability under both pulsed- and continuous-wave resonant excitation conditions, consistently with the spin ring pattern formation that has recently been observed under Gaussian-shaped excitation.

DOI: 10.1103/physrevb.85.075319

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The polarization dependence of nonequilibrium transitions in a multistable cavity-polariton system is studied under nanosecond-long resonant optical excitation at normal and magic angle incidences with various polarizations of the pump beam. The temporal correlations between the frequency, intensity, and optical polarization of the intracavity field, which all undergo sharp threshold-like changes due to the spin-dependent interaction of cavity polaritons, are visualized. The observed dynamics cannot be reproduced within the conventional semiclassical model based on the Gross-Pitaevskii equations. To explain the observed phenomena, it is necessary to take into account the unpolarized exciton reservoir that brings on an additional blue shift of bright excitons, the same for the

{\ensuremath{\sigma}}^{+}

and

{\ensuremath{\sigma}}^{\ensuremath{-}}

polarization components. This model explains the effect of polarization instability under both pulsed- and continuous-wave resonant excitation conditions, consistently with the spin ring pattern formation that has recently been observed under Gaussian-shaped excitation.

Experimental studies have been performed of the nonequilibrium transitions in multistable cavity-polariton systems under 10 ps long pulsed excitation, i.e., within nearly the shortest time scale necessary for the multistability to be revealed in GaAs-based microcavities. The experiments were aimed to determine the ratio of the strengths of the pair interactions between polaritons with parallel and antiparallel spins, which also was the question raised in a number of recent studies. We show that in contrast to the cases of continuous-wave or nanosecond long pumping conditions, in the fast pulse regime the system is not affected by the excitonic reservoir. The interaction between polaritons with opposite spins is definitely attractive at a nearly zero detuning of exciton and photon modes; as a result, optical response can be essentially multistable at a linearly polarized excitation. With increasing pulse duration up to 100 ps, the reservoir can start manifesting itself in a reduction of the spin multistability.

We present a theoretical study of spin multistability and hysteresis in resonantly pumped exciton–polaritons within semiconductor microcavities. This multistable behavior arises from the nonlinear, polarization-dependent anisotropy of polariton–polariton interactions. Unlike conventional optical bistability in spinless nonlinear optical systems, the dynamics are governed by spin-selective coupling. We calculate the steady-state polariton density and degree of circular polarization of the intracavity polariton field, demonstrating that for a fixed pump polarization, wave vector, and detuning, the degree of polarization could take on multiple values depending on the pump strength. This spin-sensitive multistability lays the groundwork for multichannel optical switches governed not just by total pump intensity but also by its pump polarization.

Chirality of cavity polaritons, brought on by lifted degeneracy of right- and left-circularly polarized polariton levels, makes possible a new kind of multistability that manifests itself in fast (few tens of picoseconds) spin-flip transitions in the cavity field under a resonant pump with fixed polarization but varying intensity. This effect is due to resonance-shifting polariton-polariton interactions; it has been described within a coherent mean-field approach and observed experimentally using pulsed 70 picosecond long excitation in a magnetic field.

Ultrafast transitions between opposite-spin states of multicomponent bosonic condensates, proceeding on the timescale comparable to the lifetime of the particles the condensate consists of, are demonstrated in a resonantly excited system of cavity polaritons in a magnetic field. Spin-sensitive pair interactions enable fast and massive spin flips occurring at critical amplitudes due to the interplay between amplitude-dependent shifts of eigenstates and the Zeeman splitting. Dominant spin of a condensate can be toggled back and forth by tuning of the pump intensity only, which was impossible in spin-degenerate cavity-polariton systems, cavities with weak exciton-photon coupling, and other previously known photonic systems and devices.

We investigate the physics of coherent polaritons in a double-well configuration under a resonant pumping. For a continuous-wave pump, bistability and self-pulsing regimes are identified as a function of the pump energy and intensity. The response to an additional probe pulse is characterized in the different cases and related to the Bogoliubov modes around the stationary state. Under a pulsed pump, a crossover from Josephson-like oscillations to self-trapping is predicted for increasing pump intensity. The accurateness of the effective two-mode model is assessed by comparing its predictions to a full solution of the nonequilibrium Gross--Pitaevskii equation.

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.