What is it about?
Microcavity polaritons are mixed oscillations of photons and quantum well excitons. Upon triggering the two electromagnetic normal modes of polaritons with delayed pulses, we could for the first time obtain a kind of emitted light which is continously sweeping its polarization on the picosecond scale.
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Why is it important?
Polarization shaping is a paradigm of modern photonics which is raising interest for example in the field of polarized femtochemistry. Our technique is based on the universal principles of normal modes coupling and coherent control, and could thus be extended to other physical platforms as well.
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Polarization shaping of Poincaré beams by polariton oscillations, Light Science & Applications, November 2015, Nature,
DOI: 10.1038/lsa.2015.123.
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Resources
Ultrafast polarization shaping by polaritons
Polarization shaping of Poincaré beams by polariton oscillations. D. colas et al (2015), Light Science & Applications http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/lsa.2015.123 We propose the experimental and theoretical generation of femtosecond light pulses whose polarization varies in a ordered oscillating and continuous fashion. Using a coherent control between two counter-polarized exciting pulses, it is possible to convert the intensity oscillations associated to the Rabi splitting of microcavity polariton modes into polarization oscillations. The state can be seen as temporally covering selected areas of the Poincaré sphere with both tunable swirling speed and total duration. In this way the emitted light from the sample results into a continuously changing polarization state, swirling between opposite polarizations in the time of approximately 1 ps (as the Rabi period), and slowly fading into a fixed state in a 10 ps (as the lower polaritons lifetime). The colour envelope represents the field intensity over the micrometric area, while the symbols on the floor represent the polarization pattern (red and blue circle are right and left circular polarizations). The time ratio of the slow motion is of 1 ps : 0.5 s (2.000.000.000.000 to 1). For further videossee the supplementary to the Light Sci Appl paper.
Polarized Rabi oscillations
Experimental research on polariton fluids at the CNR NANOTEC Institute of Nanotechnology.
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