Directional optical switching and transistor functionality using optical parametric oscillation in a spinor polariton fluid


Abstract in English

Over the past decade, spontaneously emerging patterns in the density of polaritons in semiconductor microcavities were found to be a promising candidate for all-optical switching. But recent approaches were mostly restricted to scalar fields, did not benefit from the polaritons unique spin-dependent properties, and utilized switching based on hexagon far-field patterns with 60{deg} beam switching (i.e. in the far field the beam propagation direction is switched by 60{deg}). Since hexagon far-field patterns are challenging, we present here an approach for a linearly polarized spinor field, that allows for a transistor-like (e.g., crucial for cascadability) orthogonal beam switching, i.e. in the far field the beam is switched by 90{deg}. We show that switching specifications such as amplification and speed can be adjusted using only optical means.

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