Thermalization of fluorescent protein exciton-polaritons at room temperature

Fluorescent proteins (FPs) have recently emerged as a serious contender for realizing ultralow threshold room temperature exciton-polariton condensation and lasing. Our contribution investigates the thermalization of FP microcavity exciton-polaritons upon optical pumping under ambient conditions. We...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2022-01
Main Authors: Satapathy, Sitakanta, Liu, Bin, Deshmukh, Prathmesh, Molinaro, Paul M, Dirnberger, Florian, Khatoniar, Mandeep, Koder, Ronald L, Menon, Vinod M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analog circuits
Analog simulation
Circuit design
Equilibrium
Excitons
Fluence
Fluorescence
Lattice vibration
Lattices
Metastable state
Optical pumping
Polaritons
Proteins
Room temperature
Switches
Thermalization (energy absorption)
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Summary:Fluorescent proteins (FPs) have recently emerged as a serious contender for realizing ultralow threshold room temperature exciton-polariton condensation and lasing. Our contribution investigates the thermalization of FP microcavity exciton-polaritons upon optical pumping under ambient conditions. We realize polariton cooling using a new FP molecule, called mScarlet, coupled strongly to the optical modes in a Fabry Perot cavity. Interestingly, at the threshold excitation energy (fluence) of ~ 9 nJ/pulse (15.6 mJ/cm2), we observe an effective temperature, Teff ~ 350 +/- 35 K close to the lattice temperature indicative of strongly thermalized exciton-polaritons at equilibrium. This efficient thermalization results from the interplay of radiative pumping facilitated by the energetics of the lower polariton branch and the cavity Q factor. Direct evidence for dramatic switching from an equilibrium state into a metastable state is observed for the organic cavity polariton device at room temperature via deviation from the Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics at k = 0 above the threshold. Thermalized polariton gases in organic systems at equilibrium hold substantial promise for designing room temperature polaritonic circuits, switches, and lattices for analog simulation.
ISSN:2331-8422