Operation of a semiconductor microcavity under electric excitation

TL;DR

This paper develops a comprehensive microscopic model for the bias-controlled operation of exciton-polariton heterostructures, enabling detailed simulation of polariton laser dynamics and threshold characteristics.

Contribution

It introduces a unified theoretical framework combining multiple equations to accurately simulate polariton laser behavior under electric excitation, including nonlinear interactions and relaxation mechanisms.

Findings

First theoretical threshold characteristics for polariton lasers.

Simulation of polariton transport and device modeling.

Inclusion of nonlinear exciton interactions and carrier dynamics.

Abstract

We present a microscopic theory for the description of the bias-controlled operation of an exciton-polariton-based heterostructure, in particular, the polariton laser. Combining together the Poisson equations for the scalar electric potential and Fermi quasi-energies of electrons and holes in a semiconductor heterostructure, the Boltzmann equation for the incoherent excitonic reservoir and the Gross-Pitaevskii equation for the exciton-polariton mean field, we simulate the dynamics of the system minimising the number of free parameters and for the first time build a theoretical threshold characteristics: number of particles vs applied bias. This approach, which also accounts for the nonlinear (exciton-exciton) interaction, particle lifetime, and which can, in principle, account for any relaxation mechanisms for the carriers of charge inside the heterostructure or polariton loss, allows to completely describe modern experiments on polariton transport and model new devices.