Spin noise of a polariton laser

TL;DR

This study investigates the polarization noise in exciton-polariton emission from a high-Q microcavity laser, revealing significant polarization fluctuations and a non-monotonic dependence on pump power, supported by a theoretical model.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed experimental analysis of polarization noise in polariton lasers and introduces a theoretical model explaining observed noise features.

Findings

Polarization noise exceeds shot noise level.

Polarization noise spectrum is flat up to 650 MHz.

Non-monotonic polarization fluctuations with pump power.

Abstract

We report on experimental study of the exciton-polariton emission (PE) polarization noise below and above the polariton lasing threshold under continuous wave nonresonant excitation. The experiments were performed with a high-Q graded 5{\lambda}/2 GaAs/AlGaAs microcavity with three quantum wells in the strong coupling regime. The PE polarization noise substantially exceeded in magnitude the shot noise level and, in the studied frequency range (up to 650 MHz), had a flat spectrum. We have found that the PE polarization noise magnitude dependence on the pump intensity showed specific features that had no analogy in power dependences of the PE intensity and intensity noise. Particularly, the linear polarization fluctuations normalized by the emission intensity showed a remarkably non-monotonic dependence on the pump power. A theoretical model describing the observed peculiarity of the PE polarization noise is proposed.