Spin-Orbit Coupling for Photons and Polaritons in Microstructures

We use coupled micropillars etched out of a semiconductor microcavity to engineer a spin-orbit Hamiltonian for photons and polaritons in a microstructure. The coupling between the spin and orbital momentum arises from the polarization-dependent confinement and tunneling of photons between adjacent m...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review. X 2015-03, Vol.5 (1), p.011034, Article 011034
Main Authors: Sala, V. G., Solnyshkov, D. D., Carusotto, I., Jacqmin, T., Lemaître, A., Terças, H., Nalitov, A., Abbarchi, M., Galopin, E., Sagnes, I., Bloch, J., Malpuech, G., Amo, A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Atomic structure
Confinement
Coupling (molecular)
Diameters
Eigenvectors
Electromagnetism
Electron spin
Engineers
Fine structure
Hall effect
Lattices
Magnetic moments
Microstructure
Momentum
Nonlinearity
Particle spin
Photoluminescence
Photonics
Photons
Physics
Polaritons
Polarization
Relativity
Spin-orbit interactions
Topological insulators
Wave functions
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We use coupled micropillars etched out of a semiconductor microcavity to engineer a spin-orbit Hamiltonian for photons and polaritons in a microstructure. The coupling between the spin and orbital momentum arises from the polarization-dependent confinement and tunneling of photons between adjacent micropillars arranged in the form of a hexagonal photonic molecule. It results in polariton eigenstates with distinct polarization patterns, which are revealed in photoluminescence experiments in the regime of polariton condensation. Thanks to the strong polariton nonlinearities, our system provides a photonic workbench for the quantum simulation of the interplay between interactions and spin-orbit effects, particularly when extended to two-dimensional lattices.
ISSN:2160-3308
2160-3308
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevX.5.011034