Strong coupling of ionizing transitions

Year: 2019

Authors: Cortese E., Carusotto I., Colombelli R., De Liberato S.

Autors Affiliation: Univ Southampton, Sch Phys & Astron, Southampton SO17 1BJ, Hants, England; Univ Trento, INO CNR BEC Ctr, I-38123 Povo, Italy; Univ Trento, Dipartimento Fis, I-38123 Povo, Italy; Univ Paris Saclay, Univ Paris Sud, CNRS UMR 9001, Ctr Nanosci & Nanotechnol,Orsay C2N, F-91405 Orsay, France.

Abstract: In cavity quantum electrodynamics, strong light-matter coupling is normally observed between a photon mode and a discrete optically active transition. In the present work we demonstrate that strong coupling can also be achieved using ionizing, intrinsically continuum, transitions. This leads to the appearance of novel discrete polaritonic resonances, corresponding to dressed bound exciton states, kept together by the exchange of virtual cavity photons. We apply our theory to the case of intersubband transitions in doped quantum wells, where Coulomb-bound excitons are absent. In considering quantum wells with a single bound electronic subband, in which all transitions involve states in the continuum, we find that the novel bound excitons predicted by our theory are observable within present-day, realistic parameters. Our work shows how strong light-matter coupling can be used as a novel gauge to tune both optical and electronic properties of semiconductor heterostructures beyond those permitted by mere crystal properties. Published by The Optical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Journal/Review: OPTICA

Volume: 6 (3)      Pages from: 354  to: 361

More Information: FP7 Ideas: European Research Council (IDEAS-ERC) (GEM 306661); European Union FET (Open Grant MIR-BOSE 737017); Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) (EP/M009122/1); Provincia Autonoma di Trento; Royal Society (University Research Fellowship).
KeyWords: Polariton
DOI: 10.1364/OPTICA.6.000354

Citations: 23
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