Magnetic field effect on polarization and dispersion of exciton-polaritons in planar microcavities

TL;DR

This paper extends the non-local dielectric response theory to analyze how magnetic fields influence the polarization and dispersion of exciton-polaritons in semiconductor microcavities, revealing complex polarization behavior and enhanced Faraday rotation.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical framework for describing magnetic field effects on exciton-polaritons in microcavities, including polarization changes and dispersion modifications.

Findings

Four polariton dispersion branches with polarization evolving from circular to linear.

Strong enhancement of Faraday rotation in microcavities compared to quantum wells.

Interplay between Zeeman and TE-TM splitting causes complex polarization dynamics.

Abstract

The non-local dielectric response theory is extended to describe oblique reflection of light from quantum wells subjected to the magnetic field. This allows us to calculate the dispersion and polarization of the exciton-polariton modes in semiconductor microcavities in the presence of a magnetic field normal to the plane of the structure. We show that due to the interplay between the exciton Zeeman splitting and TE-TM splitting of the photon modes, four polariton dispersion branches are formed with a polarization gradually changing from circular in the exciton-like part to linear in the photon-like part of each branch. Faraday rotation in quantum microcavities is shown to be strongly enhanced as compared with the rotation in quantum wells.