Intrinsically chiral exciton polaritons in an atomically-thin semiconductor

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Wurdack, Matthias J., Iorsh, Ivan, Vavreckova, Sarka, Bucher, Tobias, Król, Mateusz, Fedorova, Zlata, Estrecho, Eliezer, Klimmer, Sebastian, Mawlong, Larionette P. L., Deng, Huachun, Song, Qinghai, van der Laan, Timothy, Soavi, Giancarlo, Pertsch, Thomas, Eilenberger, Falk, Staude, Isabelle, Kivshar, Yuri, Ostrovskaya, Elena. A.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866915660440797184
author Wurdack, Matthias J.
Iorsh, Ivan
Vavreckova, Sarka
Bucher, Tobias
Król, Mateusz
Fedorova, Zlata
Estrecho, Eliezer
Klimmer, Sebastian
Mawlong, Larionette P. L.
Deng, Huachun
Song, Qinghai
van der Laan, Timothy
Soavi, Giancarlo
Pertsch, Thomas
Eilenberger, Falk
Staude, Isabelle
Kivshar, Yuri
Ostrovskaya, Elena. A.
author_facet Wurdack, Matthias J.
Iorsh, Ivan
Vavreckova, Sarka
Bucher, Tobias
Król, Mateusz
Fedorova, Zlata
Estrecho, Eliezer
Klimmer, Sebastian
Mawlong, Larionette P. L.
Deng, Huachun
Song, Qinghai
van der Laan, Timothy
Soavi, Giancarlo
Pertsch, Thomas
Eilenberger, Falk
Staude, Isabelle
Kivshar, Yuri
Ostrovskaya, Elena. A.
contents Photonic bound states in the continuum (BICs) have emerged as a versatile tool for enhancing light-matter interactions by strongly confining light fields. Chiral BICs are photonic resonances with a high degree of circular polarisation, which hold great promise for spin-selective applications in quantum optics and nanophotonics. Here, we demonstrate a novel application of a chiral BIC for inducing strong coupling between the circularly polarised photons and spin-polarised (valley) excitons (bound electron-hole pairs) in atomically-thin transition metal dichalcogenide crystals (TMDCs). By placing monolayer WS$_2$ onto the BIC-hosting metasurface, we observe the formation of intrinsically chiral, valley-selective exciton polaritons, evidenced by circularly polarised photoluminescence (PL) at two distinct energy levels. The PL intensity and degree of circular polarisation of polaritons exceed those of uncoupled excitons in our structure by an order of magnitude. Our microscopic model shows that this enhancement is due to folding of the Brillouin zone creating a direct emission path for high-momenta polaritonic states far outside the light cone, thereby providing a shortcut to thermalisation (energy relaxation) and suppressing depolarisation. Moreover, while the polarisation of the upper polariton is determined by the valley excitons, the lower polariton behaves like an intrinsic chiral emitter with its polarisation fixed by the BIC. Therefore, the spin alignment of the upper and lower polaritons ($\uparrow\downarrow$ and $\uparrow \uparrow$) can be controlled by $σ^+$ and $σ^-$ polarised optical excitation, respectively. Our work introduces a new type of chiral light-matter quasi-particles in atomically-thin semiconductors and provides an insight into their energy relaxation dynamics.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_17266
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Intrinsically chiral exciton polaritons in an atomically-thin semiconductor
Wurdack, Matthias J.
Iorsh, Ivan
Vavreckova, Sarka
Bucher, Tobias
Król, Mateusz
Fedorova, Zlata
Estrecho, Eliezer
Klimmer, Sebastian
Mawlong, Larionette P. L.
Deng, Huachun
Song, Qinghai
van der Laan, Timothy
Soavi, Giancarlo
Pertsch, Thomas
Eilenberger, Falk
Staude, Isabelle
Kivshar, Yuri
Ostrovskaya, Elena. A.
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Optics
Photonic bound states in the continuum (BICs) have emerged as a versatile tool for enhancing light-matter interactions by strongly confining light fields. Chiral BICs are photonic resonances with a high degree of circular polarisation, which hold great promise for spin-selective applications in quantum optics and nanophotonics. Here, we demonstrate a novel application of a chiral BIC for inducing strong coupling between the circularly polarised photons and spin-polarised (valley) excitons (bound electron-hole pairs) in atomically-thin transition metal dichalcogenide crystals (TMDCs). By placing monolayer WS$_2$ onto the BIC-hosting metasurface, we observe the formation of intrinsically chiral, valley-selective exciton polaritons, evidenced by circularly polarised photoluminescence (PL) at two distinct energy levels. The PL intensity and degree of circular polarisation of polaritons exceed those of uncoupled excitons in our structure by an order of magnitude. Our microscopic model shows that this enhancement is due to folding of the Brillouin zone creating a direct emission path for high-momenta polaritonic states far outside the light cone, thereby providing a shortcut to thermalisation (energy relaxation) and suppressing depolarisation. Moreover, while the polarisation of the upper polariton is determined by the valley excitons, the lower polariton behaves like an intrinsic chiral emitter with its polarisation fixed by the BIC. Therefore, the spin alignment of the upper and lower polaritons ($\uparrow\downarrow$ and $\uparrow \uparrow$) can be controlled by $σ^+$ and $σ^-$ polarised optical excitation, respectively. Our work introduces a new type of chiral light-matter quasi-particles in atomically-thin semiconductors and provides an insight into their energy relaxation dynamics.
title Intrinsically chiral exciton polaritons in an atomically-thin semiconductor
topic Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Optics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.17266