Quantum confinement of exciton-polaritons in a structured (Al,Ga)As microcavity

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the confinement of exciton-polaritons in structured (Al,Ga)As microcavities with traps as small as 1 micron, enabling precise control of polariton wave functions for quantum applications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel patterning method to create microcavity polariton traps with controlled size and shape, supporting arrays and hybridization of polariton states.

Findings

Achieved polariton confinement in traps down to 1 micron.

Correlated spectroscopic and structural data to characterize confinement.

Supported the fabrication of arrays with hybridized polariton states.

Abstract

The realization of quantum functionalities with polaritons in an all-semiconductor platform requires the control of the energy and spatial overlap of the wave functions of single polaritons trapped in potentials with precisely controlled shape and size. In this study, we reach the confinement of microcavity polaritons in traps with an effective potential width down to 1 um, produced by patterning the active region of the (Al,Ga)As microcavity between two molecular beam epitaxy growth runs. We correlate spectroscopic and structural data to show that the smooth surface relief of the patterned traps translates into a graded confinement-potential characterized by lateral interfaces with a finite lateral-width. We show that the structuring method is suitable for the fabrication of arrays of proximal traps, supporting hybridization between adjacent lattice sites.