Can we move photons?

TL;DR

This paper predicts drag effects in coupled quantum wells, showing that electron currents can induce photon transport via polaritons, with temperature-dependent drag coefficients and potential experimental observations.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of electron-induced photon transport through polaritons in CQWs and analyzes temperature effects on drag coefficients.

Findings

Electron current induces polariton flow at low temperatures.

Superfluid polaritons do not contribute to drag.

Drag coefficients increase with temperature.

Abstract

The drag effects in the system of spatially separated electrons and excitons in coupled quantum wells (CQWs) embedded in an optical microcavity are predicted. It is shown that at low temperature an electron current induces the polariton flow, therefore, a transport of photons along the cavity. However, the superfluid polariton component does not contribute to the electron drag. The polariton-electron at the low temperatures and exciton-electron at the high temperatures drag coefficients are presented. It is shown that the drag coefficients increase when temperature increases. We discuss possible experiments for the observation of the electron-polariton drag effect.