No Arabic abstract
We present a systematic theory of Coulomb-induced correlation effects in the nonlinear optical processes within the strong-coupling regime. In this paper we shall set a dynamics controlled truncation scheme cite{Axt Stahl} microscopic treatment of nonlinear parametric processes in SMCs including the electromagnetic field quantization. It represents the starting point for the microscopic approach to quantum optics experiments in the strong coupling regime without any assumption on the quantum statistics of electronic excitations (excitons) involved. We exploit a previous technique, used in the semiclassical context, which, once applied to four-wave mixing in quantum wells, allowed to understand a wide range of observed phenomena cite{Sham PRL95}. We end up with dynamical equations for exciton and photon operators which extend the usual semiclassical description of Coulomb interaction effects, in terms of a mean-field term plus a genuine non-instantaneous four-particle correlation, to quantum optical effects.
We consider exciton-photon coupling in semiconductor microcavities in which separate periodic potentials have been embedded for excitons and photons. We show theoretically that this system supports degenerate ground-states appearing at non-zero in-plane momenta, corresponding to multiple valleys in reciprocal space, which are further separated in polarization corresponding to a polarization-valley coupling in the system. Aside forming a basis for valleytronics, the multivalley dispersion is predicted to allow for spontaneous momentum symmetry breaking and two-mode squeezing under non-resonant and resonant excitation, respectively.
We present a theoretical model that allows us to describe the polariton dynamics in a semiconductor microcavity at large densities, for the case of non-resonant excitation. Exciton-polariton scattering from a thermalized exciton reservoir is identified as the main mechanism for relaxation into the lower polariton states. A maximum in the polariton distribution that shifts towards lower energies with increasing pump-power or temperature is shown, in agreement with recent experiments. Above a critical pump-power, macroscopic occupancies (5 times 10^4) can be achieved in the lowest energy polariton state. Our model predicts the possibility of Bose-Einstein Condensation of polaritons, driven by exciton-polariton interaction, at densities well below the saturation density for CdTe microcavities.
Within the framework of the covariant formulation of light-front dynamics, we develop a general non-perturbative renormalization scheme based on the Fock decomposition of the state vector and its truncation. The counterterms and bare parameters needed to renormalize the theory depend on the Fock sectors. We present a general strategy in order to calculate these quantities, as well as state vectors of physical systems, in a truncated Fock space. The explicit dependence of our formalism on the orientation of the light front plane is essential in order to analyze the structure of the counterterms. We apply our formalism to the two-body (one fermion and one boson) truncation in the Yukawa model and in QED, and to the three-body truncation in a scalar model. In QED, we recover analytically, without any perturbative expansion, the renormalization of the electric charge, according to the requirements of the Ward identity.
We report the observation of a parametric instability in the out-of-equilibrium steady state of two coupled Kerr microresonators coherently driven by a laser. Using a resonant excitation, we drive the system into an unstable regime, where we observe the appearance of intense and well resolved sideband modes in the emission spectrum. This feature is a characteristic signature of self-sustained oscillations of the intracavity field. We comprehensively model our findings using semiclassical Langevin equations for the cavity field dynamics combined with a linear stability analysis. The inherent scalability of our semiconductor platform, enriched with a strong Kerr nonlinearity, is promising for the realization of integrated optical parametric oscillator networks operating in a few-photon regime.
The dynamics of optical switching in semiconductor microcavities in the strong coupling regime is studied using time- and spatially-resolved spectroscopy. The switching is triggered by polarised short pulses which create spin bullets of high polariton density. The spin packets travel with speeds of the order of 106 m/s due to the ballistic propagation and drift of exciton-polaritons from high to low density areas. The speed is controlled by the angle of incidence of the excitation beams, which changes the polariton group velocity.