All-optical polariton transistor

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates an all-optical polariton transistor using microcavity polaritons, achieving significant amplification and low-energy switching, paving the way for integrated optical circuits.

Contribution

It introduces a novel switching scheme for polaritons in microcavities that enables all-optical transistors with high amplification and low energy consumption.

Findings

Achieved up to 19 times amplification.

Switching energies in the attojoule per square micron range.

Controlled polariton propagation for transistor switching.

Abstract

While optical technology provides the best solution for the transmission of information, optical logics still calls for qualitative new concepts to be explored. Exciton-polaritons are composite particles, resulting from the strong coupling between excitons and photons, which have recently demonstrated exceptional properties like huge non-linearities, long range coherence and suppression of scattering. Here we demonstrate a switching scheme for polaritons moving in the plane of a microcavity which satisfy all the requirements for an all-optical transistor. Under resonant excitation, the power threshold for the nonlinear increase of the polariton density is varied by a weak control beam, obtaining up to 19 times amplification with switching energies in the range of attojoule per square micron. Polariton propagation in the plane of the microcavity is then used to control the switching of a second, spatially separated transistor, opening the way to the implementation of polariton integrated circuits.