Light propagation in tunable exciton-polariton one-dimensional photonic crystals

TL;DR

This paper investigates how light propagates in tunable one-dimensional photonic crystals with embedded quantum wells, revealing controllable negative refraction and group velocity modulation via exciton radiative lifetime adjustments.

Contribution

It introduces a method to control light propagation in photonic crystals by tuning exciton radiative properties, demonstrating negative refraction and velocity control.

Findings

Negative refraction of light observed

Light group velocity can be controlled externally

Propagation characteristics depend on exciton lifetime

Abstract

Simulations of propagation of light beams in specially designed multilayer semiconductor structures (one-dimensional photonic crystals) with embedded quantum wells reveal characteristic optical properties of resonant hyperbolic metamaterials. A strong dependence of the refraction angle and the optical beam spread on the exciton radiative lifetime is revealed. We demonstrate the strong negative refraction of light and the control of the group velocity of light by an external bias through its effect upon the exciton radiative properties.