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Noise-Induced Phenomena in Collective Spinor Polariton Excitations

Hadis Abbaspour

Published Jan 1, 2015• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

Polaritons are quasiparticles resulting from the strong coupling between photons and excitons embedded in a semiconductor microcavity. The exciton component of polaritons provides strong nonlinear interactions, while their photonic counterpart facilitates long range coherence. Moreover, polaritons carry a pseudospin that can be accessed through the polarization state of the emitted light, and brings up spinor related nonlinear effects. This study aims at in-depth investigation of the noise related phenomena in polariton system. First, a series of experiments of polariton bistability and multistability are performed to deepen our knowledge about the effect of the biexciton creation and polariton-polariton interaction on multistable regimes in exciton polaritons. Then, using an external Gaussian noise, the polariton transition rate between two stable states of a polariton bistability is characterized. It is shown that the external noise specifications, intensity and correlation time, can efficiently modify the polariton Kramers time and residence time. We also discuss the performance of the bistable behaviour in steady state regime in terms of experimental acquisition time compared to the noise-assisted residence time. In the next part, taking advantage of polariton bistability and spin-trigger regime, we have evidenced two different types of stochastic resonance. Intensity stochastic resonance and spinor stochastic resonance. We have shown that the synergic interplay between intensity fluctuations and external modulated signal, imprinted on the DC component of the driving field, can enhance the coherent processing of an input signal buried in noise. Moreover, we evidence that, due to the exceptional spin properties of polaritons, a noisy modulated polarized input signal can drive the switching of a fully polarized polariton population. This effect unveils an original field of stochastic resonance which we called as spinor stochastic resonance. All experimental results are well reproduced by a model based on Gross-Pitaevskii equation. At the end, the influence of nonlinear interactions on polariton intensity fluctuations and probability distribution have been investigated.

DOI
10.5075/epfl-thesis-6592

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Polaritons are quasiparticles resulting from the strong coupling between photons and excitons embedded in a semiconductor microcavity. The exciton component of polaritons provides strong nonlinear interactions, while their photonic counterpart facilitates long range coherence. Moreover, polaritons carry a pseudospin that can be accessed through the polarization state of the emitted light, and brings up spinor related nonlinear effects. This study aims at in-depth investigation of the noise related phenomena in polariton system. First, a series of experiments of polariton bistability and multistability are performed to deepen our knowledge about the effect of the biexciton creation and polariton-polariton interaction on multistable regimes in exciton polaritons. Then, using an external Gaussian noise, the polariton transition rate between two stable states of a polariton bistability is characterized. It is shown that the external noise specifications, intensity and correlation time, can efficiently modify the polariton Kramers time and residence time. We also discuss the performance of the bistable behaviour in steady state regime in terms of experimental acquisition time compared to the noise-assisted residence time. In the next part, taking advantage of polariton bistability and spin-trigger regime, we have evidenced two different types of stochastic resonance. Intensity stochastic resonance and spinor stochastic resonance. We have shown that the synergic interplay between intensity fluctuations and external modulated signal, imprinted on the DC component of the driving field, can enhance the coherent processing of an input signal buried in noise. Moreover, we evidence that, due to the exceptional spin properties of polaritons, a noisy modulated polarized input signal can drive the switching of a fully polarized polariton population. This effect unveils an original field of stochastic resonance which we called as spinor stochastic resonance. All experimental results are well reproduced by a model based on Gross-Pitaevskii equation. At the end, the influence of nonlinear interactions on polariton intensity fluctuations and probability distribution have been investigated.
We report on the effect of noise on the characteristics of the bistable polariton emission system. The present experiment provides a time-resolved access to the polariton emission intensity. We evidence the noise-induced transitions between the two stable states of the bistable polaritons. It is shown that the external noise specifications, intensity and correlation time, can efficiently modify the polariton Kramers time and residence time. We find that there is a threshold noise strength that provokes the collapse of the hysteresis loop. The experimental results are reproduced by numerical simulations using Gross-Pitaevskii equation driven by a stochastic excitation.
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.
We study the nonlinear dynamics of spinor exciton-polaritons in resonantly pumped microcavities. Using steady-state analysis and computing eigenfrequencies via Bogoliubov-like linearization, we show that multiple Hopf bifurcations beyond conventional bistability occur within specific power regimes and are not associated with stable solutions of the system. Owing to nonlinear excitonic interactions, these transitions occur at different pump powers during forward and backward pump sweeps, leading to pronounced hysteresis between fixed-point and limit-cycle states. In the spinor regime, multiple limit-cycle branches and associated dynamical hysteresis loops emerge due to the interplay of polarization coupling and spin-dependent nonlinearities. We show how the locations of the bifurcation points can be tuned by the pump frequency and other system parameters. Our results identify synchronization as the organizing principle underlying limit-cycle formation, dynamical hysteresis, and bifurcation cascades in driven spinor exciton-polariton microcavities.
We realize bistability in the spinor of polariton condensates under nonresonant optical excitation and in the absence of biasing external fields. Numerical modeling of the system using the Ginzburg-Landau equation with an internal Josephson coupling between the two spin components of the condensate qualitatively describes the experimental observations. We demonstrate that polariton spin bistability strongly depends on the condensate's overlap with the exciton reservoir by tuning the excitation geometry and sample temperature. We obtain noncollapsing bistability hysteresis loops for a record range of sweep times, [10 μs, 1 s], offering a promising route to spin switches and spin memory elements.
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.
Summary form only given. Semiconductor microcavities can be engineered to produce strong coupling between photons and quantum well excitons leading to the formation of new eigenstates called polaritons. Due to their peculiar dispersion, enabling non-equilibrium Bose-Einstein condensation [1], and their straightforward experimental accessibility, microcavity polaritons have gained considerable interest in recent years. Polariton states can be selectively populated by choosing the excitation angle and the wavelength of the excitation laser. After a lifetime of a few picoseconds the polariton decays and a photon is emitted from the cavity, carrying the complete information on the underlying polariton state. Several theoretical works [2-3] suggest that polariton-polariton interactions can be a source of non-classical photon correlations, producing photon pairs that are entangled in either the energy, the polarization, or the momentum degree of freedom. One appeal of such a system is that many parameters such as the polariton-polariton interaction strength are tunable [4] and multipartite entangled states can be created in a single device [5]. However, due to the lack of high-quality samples, experimental realisations of these schemes have been elusive so far. In this contribution, we will discuss some of our experimental work on the statistics of polariton-polariton parametric scattering. Excited polaritons can scatter in a four-wave mixing process into signal and idler states lying on a figure-eight shaped curve in k-space, where phase-matching is fulfilled. We make use of a sample with ultra narrow exciton resonances, which allows for the generation and detection of correlated light. We present our measurements of the second order correlation functions using time-correlated photon counting. We discuss in detail, how polariton quantum correlations depend on a number of experimental parameters, such as phase space location and excitation density and find that the results can be understood in the framework of the well known Bogoliubov theory for 2D Bose gases utilised for microcavity polaritons [6]. We find bunching below the parametric threshold and a slow buildup of coherence above the threshold similar to the quantum statistics of a non-degenerate optical parametric oscillator, which is well known for its nonclassical properties [7]. We discuss in particular the influence of strong background processes on the observed photon statistics.