Way to observe the implausible "trion-polariton"

TL;DR

This paper investigates the conditions under which a

Contribution

It introduces a formalism showing how a dense Fermi sea can enable the observation of long-sought

Findings

Fermi sea overcomes weak photon-trion coupling via Pauli blocking

Fermi sea broadens the photon-trion resonance

Doped semiconductors with long-lived states are ideal for observing the polariton

Abstract

Using the composite boson (coboson) many-body formalism, we determine under which conditions "trion-polariton" can exist. Dipolar attraction can bind an exciton and an electron into a trion having an energy well separated from the exciton energy. Yet, the existence of long-lived "trion-polariton" is a priori implausible not only because the photon-trion coupling, which scales as the inverse of the sample volume, is vanishingly small, but mostly because this coupling is intrinsically "weak". Here, we show that a moderately dense Fermi sea renders its observation possible: on the pro side, the Fermi sea overcomes the weak coupling by pinning the photon to its momentum through Pauli blocking, it also overcomes the dramatically poor photon-trion coupling by providing a volume-linear trion subspace to which the photon is coherently coupled. On the con side, the Fermi sea broadens the photon-trion resonance due to the fermionic nature of trions and electrons, it also weakens the trion binding by blocking electronic states relevant for trion formation. As a result, the proper way to observe this novel polariton is to use doped semiconductor having long-lived electronic states, highly-bound trion and Fermi energy as large as a fraction of the trion binding energy.