arXiv subjects

Angela Vasanelli

Publications and source records attributed to Angela Vasanelli.

27 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

Gate controlled coupling of intersubband plasmons

The optical response of a heavily doped quantum well, with two occupied subbands, has been investigated as a function of the electronic density. It is shown that the two optically active transitions are mutually coupled by dipole-dipole Coulomb interaction, which strongly renormalizes their absorption amplitude. In order to demonstrate this effect, we have measured a set of optical spectra on a device in which the electronic density can be tuned by the application of a gate voltage. Our results show that the absorption spectra can be correctly described only by taking into account the Coulomb coupling between the two transitions. As a consequence, the optical dipoles originating from intersubband transitions are not independent, but rather coupled oscillators with an adjustable strength.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Intersubband electroluminescent devices operating in the strong coupling regime

We present a detailed study of the electroluminescence of intersubband devices operating in the light-matter strong coupling regime. The devices have been characterized by performing angle resolved spectroscopy that shows two distinct light intensity spots in the momentum-energy phase diagram. These two features of the electroluminescence spectra are associated with photons emitted from the lower polariton branch and from the weak coupling of the intersubband transition with an excited cavity mode. The same electroluminescent active region has been processed into devices with and without the optical microcavity to illustrate the difference between a device operating in the strong and weak coupling regime. The spectra are very well simulated as the product of the polariton optical density of states, and a function describing the energy window in which the polariton states are populated. The voltage evolution of the spectra shows that the strong coupling regime allows the observation of the electroluminescence at energies otherwise inaccessible.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Coupling of a surface plasmon with localized subwavelength microcavity modes

Mid-infrared photonic modes of a periodically patterned metal-dielectric-metal structure have been investigated theoretically and experimentally. We have observed an anticrossing behaviour between cavity modes localized in the double-metal regions and the surface plasmon polariton, signature of a hybridisation between the two modes.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2012

Polaritonic spectroscopy of intersubband transitions

We report on an extensive experimental study of intersubband excitations in the THz range arising from the coupling between a quantum well and a zero-dimensional metal-metal microcavities. Because of the conceptual simplicity of the resonators we obtain an extremely predictable and controllable system to investigate light-matter interaction. The experimental data is modelled by combining a quantum mechanical approach with an effective medium electromagnetic simulation that allows us to take into account the losses of the system. By comparing our modelling with the data we are able to retrieve microscopic information, such as the electronic populations on different subbands as a function of the temperature. Our modelling approach sets the base of a designer tool for intersubband light-matter coupled systems.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Transition from strong to ultra-strong coupling regime in mid-infrared metal-dielectric-metal cavities

We have investigated the transition from strong to ultra-strong coupling regime between a mid-infrared intersubband excitation and the fundamental mode of a metal-dielectric-metal microcavity. The ultra-strong coupling regime is demonstrated up to room temperature for a wavelength of $11.7 μ$m by using 260 nm thick cavities, which impose an extreme sub-wavelength confinement. By varying the doping of our structures we show that the experimental signature of the transition to the ultra-strong coupling regime is the opening of a photonic gap in the polariton dispersion. The width of this gap depends quadratically on the ratio between the Rabi and intersubband transition energies.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Charge induced coherence between intersubband plasmons in a quantum structure

In this work we investigate a low dimensional semiconductor system, in which the light-matter interaction is enhanced by the cooperative behavior of a large number of dipolar oscillators, at different frequencies, mutually phase locked by Coulomb interaction. We experimentally and theoretically demonstrate that, owing to this phenomenon, the optical response of a semiconductor quantum well with several occupied subbands is a single sharp resonance, associated to the excitation of a bright multisubband plasmon. This effect illustrates how the whole oscillator strength of a two-dimensional system can be concentrated into a single resonance independently from the shape of the confining potential. When this cooperative excitation is tuned in resonance with a cavity mode, their coupling strength can be increased monotonically with the electronic density, allowing the achievement of the ultra-strong coupling regime up to room temperature.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Direct surface cyclotron resonance terahertz emission from a quantum cascade structure

A strong magnetic field applied along the growth direction of a semiconductor quantum well gives rise to a spectrum of discrete energy states, the Landau levels. By combining quantum engineering of a quantum cascade structure with a static magnetic field, we can selectively inject electrons into the excited Landau level of a quantum well and realize a tunable surface emitting device based on cyclotron emission. By applying the appropriate magnetic field between 0 and 12 T, we demonstrate emission from a single device over a wide range of frequencies (1-2 THz and 3-5 THz).

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2007

Electrically injected cavity polaritons

We have realised a semiconductor quantum structure that produces electroluminescence while operating in the light-matter strong coupling regime. The mid-infrared light emitting device is composed of a quantum cascade structure embedded in a planar microcavity, based on the GaAs/AlGaAs material system. At zero bias, the structure is characterised using reflectivity measurements which show, up to room temperature, a wide polariton anticrossing between an intersubband transition and the resonant cavity photon mode. Under electrical injection the spectral features of the emitted light change drastically, as electrons are resonantly injected in a reduced part of the polariton branches. Our experiment demonstrates that electrons can be selectively injected into polariton states up to room temperature.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2007

Photovoltaic Probe of Cavity Polaritons in a Quantum Cascade Structure

The strong coupling between an intersubband excitation in a quantum cascade structure and a photonic mode of a planar microcavity has been detected by angle-resolved photovoltaic measurements. A typical anticrossing behavior, with a vacuum-field Rabi splitting of 16 meV at 78K, has been measured, for an intersubband transition at 163 meV. These results show that the strong coupling regime between photons and intersubband excitations can be engineered in a quantum cascade opto-electronic device. They also demonstrate the possibility to perform angle-resolved mid-infrared photodetection and to develop active devices based on intersubband cavity polaritons.

quant-ph↗