Giant phase modulation in a Mach-Zehnder exciton-polariton interferometer
Abstract
We report on a new mechanism of giant phase modulation. The phenomenon arises when a dispersed photonic mode (slow light) strongly couples to an excitonic resonance. In such a case, even a small amount of optically injected carriers creates a potential barrier for the propagating exciton-polariton which provokes a considerable phase shift. We evidence this effect by fabricating an exciton-polariton Mach-Zehnder interferometer, modulating the output intensity by constructive or destructive interferences controlled by optical pumping of a micrometric size area. The figure of merit for a {\pi} phase shift, defined by the control power times length of the modulated region, is found at least one order of magnitude smaller than slow light photonic crystal waveguides.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1303.1649,
title = {Giant phase modulation in a Mach-Zehnder exciton-polariton interferometer},
author = {C. Sturm and D. Tanese and H. S. Nguyen and H. Flayac and E. Gallopin and A. Lemaître and I. Sagnes and D. Solnyshkov and A. Amo and G. Malpuech and J. Bloch},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1303.1649},
year = {2014}
}
Comments
18 pages, 6 figures