Direct observation of Dirac cones and a flatband in a honeycomb lattice for polaritons

Thibaut Jacqmin; Iacopo Carusotto; Isabelle Sagnes; Marco Abbarchi; Dmitry Solnyshkov; Guillaume Malpuech; Elisabeth Galopin; Aristide Lemaître; Jacqueline Bloch; Alberto Amo

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.112.116402

arXiv · 1310.8105

Direct observation of Dirac cones and a flatband in a honeycomb lattice for polaritons

Thibaut Jacqmin·Iacopo Carusotto·Isabelle Sagnes·Marco Abbarchi·Dmitry Solnyshkov·Guillaume Malpuech·Elisabeth Galopin·Aristide Lemaître·Jacqueline Bloch·Alberto Amo

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Abstract

Two-dimensional lattices of coupled micropillars etched in a planar semiconductor microcavity offer a workbench to engineer the band structure of polaritons. We report experimental studies of honeycomb lattices where the polariton low-energy dispersion is analogous to that of electrons in graphene. Using energy-resolved photoluminescence we directly observe Dirac cones, around which the dynamics of polaritons is described by the Dirac equation for massless particles. At higher energies, we observe p orbital bands, one of them with the nondispersive character of a flatband. The realization of this structure which holds massless, massive and infinitely massive particles opens the route towards studies of the interplay of dispersion, interactions, and frustration in a novel and controlled environment.

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Thibaut Jacqmin, Iacopo Carusotto, Isabelle Sagnes, Marco Abbarchi, Dmitry Solnyshkov, Guillaume Malpuech, Elisabeth Galopin, Aristide Lemaître, Jacqueline Bloch, Alberto Amo. 2014-03-04. Direct observation of Dirac cones and a flatband in a honeycomb lattice for polaritons. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.112.116402

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