Spin currents of exciton polaritons in a microcavity with (110)-oriented quantum well

TL;DR

This paper investigates how spin currents of exciton polaritons are generated and controlled in microcavities with (110)-oriented quantum wells, revealing the role of spin-orbit interactions and optical pumping in shaping spin textures.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of polariton spin dynamics influenced by spin-orbit and cavity mode splittings in (110)-oriented quantum wells, demonstrating controllable spin textures via optical excitation.

Findings

Polariton spin currents can be generated by linearly polarized optical pumping.

The spin textures depend on the excitation spot size and momentum distribution.

Spin-orbit and cavity mode splittings jointly influence spin dynamics.

Abstract

We study the polarization optical properties of microcavities with embedded (110)-oriented quantum wells. The spin dynamics of exciton polaritons in such structures is governed by the interplay of the spin-orbit splitting of exciton states, which is odd in the in-plane momentum, and the longitudinal-transverse splitting of cavity modes, which is even in the momentum. We demonstrate the generation of polariton spin currents by linearly polarized optical pump and analyze the arising polariton spin textures in the cavity plane. Tuning the excitation spot size, which controls the polariton distribution in the momentum space, one obtains symmetric or asymmetric spin textures.