Multistability of a chiral semiconductor microcavity: a self-consistent approach

TL;DR

This paper investigates polariton multistability in a chiral semiconductor microcavity, demonstrating that linear pumping can induce highly circularly polarized states through nonlinear switching.

Contribution

It introduces a self-consistent calculation method for polariton multistability in chiral microcavities, considering quantum well exciton density differences.

Findings

Linear-polarized pumping can induce up to 90% circular polarization in polaritons.

Multistability occurs even without optimization for spontaneous circular polarization.

Self-consistent and mean-field calculations show consistent results.

Abstract

We calculate the effects of polariton bi- and multistability in a semiconductor Bragg microcavity with multiple quantum wells and a chiral photonic crystal on the upper mirror for resonant coherent pumping normal to the structure. Even if the system is not optimized for obtaining photoluminescence with a high degree of circular polarization in the spontaneous mode, it is shown that linear-polarized pumping can cause nonlinear switching to states with a degree of circular polarization of polaritons up to 90%. Calculations were performed in both the mean-field and self-consistent approximations, accounting for the difference in exciton density among the microcavity's quantum wells.