Applied Physics/Physics Colloquium: Exciton-Polariton based Photonic Circuits
Exciton-Polaritons in semiconductor microcavities are hybrid states of light and matter exhibiting a mix of electronic and photonic properties [1], including strong nonlinearity, low dephasing, ultrafast dynamics, sensitivity to electric and magnetic fields and a rich spin dynamics. These properties are ideal for the construction of a new generation of polaritonic information processing devices, such as exciton-polariton based circuits [2].
For such applications, attention is needed to overcome disorder in the system. Here, advances in the patterning of polariton potentials [3] are theoretically expected to allow for topological polaritons [4]. In analogy to photonic topological insulators [5], propagation immune to scattering with disorder is predicted.
In this presentation, I will also show preliminary work in the application of exciton-polaritons in unconventional circuit architectures such as neural networks [6].
Finally, I will consider the enhancement of nonlinear polaritonic effects at the quantum level with a viewpoint toward triggered single-photon emission [7].