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Physical Review Letters

Spin Rings in Semiconductor Microcavities

Ivan Andreevich Shelykh, T. C. H. Liew, Alexey Vitalievich Kavokin

Published Mar 18, 2008• 61 citations
Publisher

Abstract

New effects of self-organization and polarization pattern formation in semiconductor microcavities, operating in the nonlinear regime, are predicted and theoretically analyzed. We show that a spatially inhomogeneous elliptically polarized optical cw pump leads to the formation of a strongly circularly polarized ring in real space. This effect is due to the polarization multistability of cavity polaritons which was recently predicted. The possible switching between different stable configurations allows the realization of a localized spin memory element, suitable for an optical data storage device.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.100.116401

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New effects of self-organization and polarization pattern formation in semiconductor microcavities, operating in the nonlinear regime, are predicted and theoretically analyzed. We show that a spatially inhomogeneous elliptically polarized optical cw pump leads to the formation of a strongly circularly polarized ring in real space. This effect is due to the polarization multistability of cavity polaritons which was recently predicted. The possible switching between different stable configurations allows the realization of a localized spin memory element, suitable for an optical data storage device.
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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.
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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.
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.
Optical storage devices are essential elements of future ultra-high bit-rate fiber communications systems in which they will find applications to various vital functions. Pulse pattern storage has been demonstrated in various fiber loop devices [1] that involve pulse control techniques in order to provide timing stability of the bit patterns. Most of these stabilization techniques are based on electrooptic modulation which limits the bit rates to a tenth of Gb/s. Moreover, erasing the data in these storage fiber loops requires switching off the system elect rooptically. Individual bit addressing is therefore impossible, which considerably restricts the functionality of the devices. We investigate here the possibility of developing a new type of all-optical fiber loop storage device. This device consists of a simple nonlinear passive fiber ring resonator synchronously and coherently pumped by a cw mode-locked train of ultrashort pulses. It is well known that this system exhibits rich nonlinear dynamics, in particular, optical bistability which is a feature naturally suited for applications to optical storage. However, erasing the data in an optical bistable element requires to switch off the holding beam and is therefore not practical. Recently, Haelterman et al. [2] have studied the polarization dynamics of nonlinear dispersive ring cavities with cw pump and have shown that these devices exhibit a polarization symmetry breaking characterized by a pitchfork bifurcation. This feature can be applied to the development of a set-reset flip-flop all-optical fiber loop pulsed memory. This work aims at presenting the results of a preliminary investigation of such a storage device.