Room temperature topological polariton laser in an organic lattice

TL;DR

This paper reports the first demonstration of room-temperature topological polariton lasing in an organic lattice, leveraging stable excitons in a patterned cavity to enable topological defect lasing at ambient conditions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel organic platform for topological polariton lasing at room temperature, overcoming previous cryogenic limitations and enabling ambient many-body physics studies.

Findings

Demonstrated polariton lasing from topological defects at room temperature.

Used a patterned mirror cavity with a monomeric fluorescent protein.

Achieved topological defect lasing in a linear Su-Schrieffer-Heeger chain.

Abstract

Interacting bosonic particles in artificial lattices have proven to be a powerful tool for the investigation of exotic phases of matter as well as phenomena resulting from non-trivial topology. Exciton-polaritons, bosonic quasi-particles of light and matter, have shown to combine the on-chip benefits of optical systems with strong interactions, inherited form their matter character. Technologically significant semiconductor platforms, however, strictly require cryogenic temperatures for operability. In this paper, we demonstrate exciton-polariton lasing for topological defects emerging form the imprinted lattice structure at room temperature. We utilize a monomeric red fluorescent protein derived from DsRed of Discosoma sea anemones, hosting highly stable Frenkel excitons. Using a patterned mirror cavity, we tune the lattice potential landscape of a linear Su-Schrieffer-Heeger chain to design topological defects at domain boundaries and at the edge. In spectroscopic experiments, we unequivocally demonstrate polariton lasing from these topological defects. This progress promises to be a paradigm shift, paving the road to interacting Boson many-body physics at ambient conditions.