arXiv subjects

J. Bloch

Publications and source records attributed to J. Bloch.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2017

Complex Langevin Simulation of a Random Matrix Model at Nonzero Chemical Potential

In this paper we test the complex Langevin algorithm for numerical simulations of a random matrix model of QCD with a first order phase transition to a phase of finite baryon density. We observe that a naive implementation of the algorithm leads to phase quenched results, which were also derived analytically in this article. We test several fixes for the convergence issues of the algorithm, in particular the method of gauge cooling, the shifted representation, the deformation technique and reweighted complex Langevin, but only the latter method reproduces the correct analytical results in the region where the quark mass is inside the domain of the eigenvalues. In order to shed more light on the issues of the methods we also apply them to a similar random matrix model with a milder sign problem and no phase transition, and in that case gauge cooling cooling solves the convergence problems as was shown before in the literature.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2017

Measuring topological invariants from generalized edge states in polaritonic quasicrystals

We investigate the topological properties of Fibonacci quasicrystals using cavity polaritons. Composite structures made of the concatenation of two Fibonacci sequences allow investigating generalized edge states forming in the gaps of the fractal energy spectrum. We employ these generalized edge states to determine the topological invariants of the quasicrystal. When varying a structural degree of freedom (phason) of the Fibonacci sequence, the edge states spectrally traverse the gaps, while their spatial symmetry switches: the periodicity of this spectral and spatial evolution yields direct measurements of the gap topological numbers. The topological invariants that we determine coincide with those assigned by the gap-labeling theorem, illustrating the direct connection between the fractal and topological properties of Fibonacci quasicrystals.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Lasing in topological edge states of a 1D lattice

Topology describes properties that remain unaffected by smooth distortions. Its main hallmark is the emergence of edge states localized at the boundary between regions characterized by distinct topological invariants. This feature offers new opportunities for robust trapping of light in nano- and micro-meter scale systems subject to fabrication imperfections and to environmentally induced deformations. Here we show lasing in such topological edge states of a one-dimensional lattice of polariton micropillars that implements an orbital version of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger Hamiltonian. We further demonstrate that lasing in these states persists under local deformations of the lattice. These results open the way to the implementation of chiral lasers in systems with broken time-reversal symmetry and, when combined with polariton interactions, to the study of nonlinear topological photonics.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Probing a dissipative phase transition via dynamical optical hysteresis

We experimentally explore the dynamic optical hysteresis of a semiconductor microcavity as a function of the sweep time. The hysteresis area exhibits a double power law decay due to the shot noise of the driving laser, which triggers switching between metastable states. Upon increasing the average photon number and approaching the thermodynamic limit, the double power law evolves into a single power law. This algebraic behavior characterizes a dissipative phase transition. Our findings are in good agreement with theoretical predictions, and the present experimental approach is promising for the exploration of critical phenomena in photonic lattices.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2016

Microcavity design for low threshold polariton condensation with ultrashort optical pulse excitation

We present a microcavity structure with a shifted photonic stop-band to enable efficient non-resonant injection of a polariton condensate with spectrally broad femtosecond pulses. The concept is demonstrated theoretically and confirmed experimentally for a planar GaAs/AlGaAs multilayer heterostructure pumped with ultrashort near-infrared pulses while photoluminescence is collected to monitor the optically injected polariton density. As the excitation wavelength is scanned, a regime of polariton condensation can be reached in our structure at a consistently lower fluence threshold than in a state-of-the-art conventional microcavity. Our microcavity design improves the polariton injection efficiency by a factor of 4, as compared to a conventional microcavity design, when broad excitation pulses are centered at a wavelength of 740 nm. Most remarkably, this improvement factor reaches 270 when the excitation wavelength is centered at 750 nm.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Revealing the dark side of a bright exciton polariton condensate

Condensation of bosons causes spectacular phenomena such as superfluidity or superconductivity. Understanding the nature of the condensed particles is crucial for active control of such quantum phases. Fascinating possibilities emerge from condensates of light-matter coupled excitations, such as exciton polaritons, photons hybridized with hydrogen-like bound electron-hole pairs. So far, only the photon component has been resolved, while even the mere existence of excitons in the condensed regime has been challenged. Here we trace the matter component of polariton condensates by monitoring intra-excitonic terahertz transitions. We study how a reservoir of optically dark excitons forms and feeds the degenerate state. Unlike atomic gases, the atom-like transition in excitons is dramatically renormalized upon macroscopic ground state population. Our results establish fundamental differences between polariton condensation and photon lasing and open possibilities for coherent control of condensates.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Interaction-induced hopping phase in driven-dissipative coupled photonic microcavities

Bosons hopping across sites and interacting on-site are the essence of the Bose-Hubbard model (BHM). Inspired by the success of BHM simulators with atoms in optical lattices, proposals for implementing the BHM with photons in coupled nonlinear cavities have emerged. Two coupled semiconductor microcavities constitute a model system where the hopping, interaction, and decay of exciton polaritons --- mixed light-matter quasiparticles --- can be engineered in combination with site-selective coherent driving to implement the driven-dissipative two-site optical BHM. Here we explore the interplay of interference and nonlinearity in this system, in a regime where three distinct density profiles can be observed under identical driving conditions. We demonstrate how the phase acquired by polaritons hopping between cavities can be controlled through effective polariton-polariton interactions. Our results open new perspectives for synthesizing density-dependent gauge fields for polaritons in two-dimensional multicavity systems.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2016

Bosonic Condensation and Disorder-Induced Localization in a Flat Band

We report on the engineering of a non-dispersive (flat) energy band in a geometrically frustrated lattice of micro-pillar optical cavities. By taking advantage of the non-hermitian nature of our system, we achieve bosonic condensation of exciton-polaritons into the flat band. Due to the infinite effective mass in such band, the condensate is highly sensitive to disorder and fragments into localized modes reflecting the elementary eigenstates produced by geometric frustration. This realization offers a novel approach to studying coherent phases of light and matter under the controlled interplay of frustration, interactions and dissipation.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Edge states in polariton honeycomb lattices

The experimental study of edge states in atomically-thin layered materials remains a challenge due to the difficult control of the geometry of the sample terminations, the stability of dangling bonds and the need to measure local properties. In the case of graphene, localised edge modes have been predicted in zig-zag and bearded edges, characterised by flat dispersions connecting the Dirac points. Polaritons in semiconductor microcavities have recently emerged as an extraordinary photonic platform to emulate 1D and 2D Hamiltonians, allowing the direct visualization of the wavefunctions in both real- and momentum-space as well as of the energy dispersion of eigenstates via photoluminescence experiments. Here we report on the observation of edge states in a honeycomb lattice of coupled micropillars. The lowest two bands of this structure arise from the coupling of the lowest energy modes of the micropillars, and emulate the π and π* bands of graphene. We show the momentum space dispersion of the edge states associated to the zig-zag and bearded edges, holding unidimensional quasi-flat bands. Additionally, we evaluate polarisation effects characteristic of polaritons on the properties of these states.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Single-shot measurement of transient nuclear magnetization with spin-noise spectroscopy in n-GaAs microcavities

We exploit spin noise spectroscopy (SNS) to directly observe build-up of dynamic nuclear polarization and relaxation of a perturbed nuclear spin-system to its equilibrium state in a single-shot experiment. The SNS experiments were performed on a layer of bulk $n$-type GaAs embedded into a high-finesse microcavity with negative detuning. The dynamic nuclear spin polarization is observed as a shift of the peak in the electron spin noise spectrum due to the build-up of the Overhauser field acting on the electron spin. The relaxation dynamics of nuclear spin system was revealed in the time-resolved SNS experiments where the exponential decay of the Overhauser field with characteristic timescale of hundreds of seconds was detected. We show that elliptically polarized laser beam tuned in resonance with the cavity mode, whose energy corresponds to nominal transparency of the semiconductor, can nevertheless produce a sizable nuclear polarization.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

An acoustic black hole in a stationary hydrodynamic flow of microcavity polaritons

We report an experimental study of superfluid hydrodynamic effects in a one-dimensional polariton fluid flowing along a laterally patterned semiconductor microcavity and hitting a micron-sized engineered defect. At high excitation power, superfluid propagation effects are observed in the polariton dynamics, in particular, a sharp acoustic horizon is formed at the defect position, separating regions of sub- and super-sonic flow. Our experimental findings are quantitatively reproduced by theoretical calculations based on a generalized Gross-Pitaevskii equation. Promising perspectives to observe Hawking radiation via photon correlation measurements are illustrated.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Driven-dissipative confined polariton condensate under magnetic field

We investigate exciton-polariton condensation under magnetic field in a single high-quality semiconductor micropillar cavity. We observe successive polariton condensation of each spin component for two distinct threshold powers. Pronounced and non-monotonous variations of both the Zeeman splitting and the circular polarization of the emission are measured across these two condensation thresholds. This unexpected behavior deeply deviates from the so-called spin Meissner effect predicted for a fully thermalized system. Our measurements can be understood in a kinetic approach taking into account spin-anisotropic interactions within the entire system: the polariton condensate and the cloud of uncondensed excitons.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Engineering spin-orbit coupling for photons and polaritons in microstructures

One of the most fundamental properties of electromagnetism and special relativity is the coupling between the spin of an electron and its orbital motion. This is at the origin of the fine structure in atoms, the spin Hall effect in semiconductors, and underlies many intriguing properties of topological insulators, in particular their chiral edge states. Configurations where neutral particles experience an effective spin-orbit coupling have been recently proposed and realized using ultracold atoms and photons. Here we use coupled micropillars etched out of a semiconductor microcavity to engineer a spin-orbit Hamiltonian for photons and polaritons in a microstructure. The coupling between the spin and orbital momentum arises from the polarisation dependent confinement and tunnelling of photons between micropillars arranged in the form of a hexagonal photonic molecule. Dramatic consequences of the spin-orbit coupling are experimentally observed in these structures in the wavefunction of polariton condensates, whose helical shape is directly visible in the spatially resolved polarisation patterns of the emitted light. The strong optical nonlinearity of polariton systems suggests exciting perspectives for using quantum fluids of polaritons11 for quantum simulation of the interplay between interactions and spin-orbit coupling.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Comment on "Linear wave dynamics explains observations attributed to dark-solitons in a polariton quantum fluid"

In a recent preprint (arXiv:1401.1128v1) Cilibrizzi and co-workers report experiments and simulations showing the scattering of polaritons against a localised obstacle in a semiconductor microcavity. The authors observe in the linear excitation regime the formation of density and phase patterns reminiscent of those expected in the non-linear regime from the nucleation of dark solitons. Based on this observation, they conclude that previous theoretical and experimental reports on dark solitons in a polariton system should be revised. Here we comment why the results from Cilibrizzi et al. take place in a very different regime than previous investigations on dark soliton nucleation and do not reproduce all the signatures of its rich nonlinear phenomenology. First of all, Cilibrizzi et al. consider a particular type of radial excitation that strongly determines the observed patterns, while in previous reports the excitation has a plane-wave profile. Most importantly, the nonlinear relation between phase jump, soliton width and fluid velocity, and the existence of a critical velocity with the time-dependent formation of vortex-antivortex pairs are absent in the linear regime. In previous reports about dark soliton and half-dark soliton nucleation in a polariton fluid, the distinctive dark soliton physics is supported both by theory (analytical and numerical) and experiments (both continuous wave and pulsed excitation).

physics.optics↗

arXiv2013

Vortex stability and permanent flow in nonequilibrium polariton condensates

We study the effects of imprinting a single-quantized vortex on the steady state of a microcavity exciton-polariton condensate generated via parametric scattering. Interestingly we observe two distinct regimes: In the first case, at low polariton densities, the effect of the pulsed probe, containing the vortex state, is to generate a gain response in the condensate lasting for tens of picoseconds during which no dissipation of the circulating currents is detected. In the second regime, at higher densities, the gain lasts much less and the circulation is imprinted directly into the steady state, which acquires permanent rotation for as long as the vortex remains within the condensate. We use two different ways of measuring the circulation of the condensate and demonstrate that in both cases, polariton condensation in the parametric scattering regime can sustain permanent supercurrents.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Giant phase modulation in a Mach-Zehnder exciton-polariton interferometer

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 π 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.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Macroscopic quantum self-trapping and Josephson oscillations of exciton-polaritons

A textbook example of quantum mechanical effects is the coupling of two states through a tunnel barrier. In the case of macroscopic quantum states subject to interactions, the tunnel coupling gives rise to Josephson phenomena including Rabi oscillations, the a.c. and d.c. effects, or macroscopic self-trapping depending on whether tunnelling or interactions dominate. Non-linear Josephson physics, observed in superfluid helium and atomic condensates, has remained inaccessible in photonic systems due to the required effective photon-photon interactions. We report on the observation of non-linear Josephson oscillations of two coupled polariton condensates confined in a photonic molecule etched in a semiconductor microcavity. By varying both the distance between the micropillars forming the molecule and the condensate density in each micropillar, we control the ratio of coupling to interaction energy. At low densities we observe coherent oscillations of particles tunnelling between the two micropillars. At high densities, interactions quench the transfer of particles inducing the macroscopic self-trapping of the condensate in one of the micropillars. The finite lifetime of polaritons results in a dynamical transition from self-trapping to oscillations with pi phase. Our results open the way to the experimental study of highly non-linear regimes in photonic systems, such as chaos or symmetry-breaking bifurcations.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Propagation and amplification dynamics of 1D polariton condensates

The dynamics of propagating polariton condensates in one-dimensional microcavities is investigated through time resolved experiments. We find a strong increase in the condensate intensity when it travels through the non-resonantly excited area. This amplification is shown to come from bosonic stimulated relaxation of reservoir excitons into the polariton condensate, allowing for the repopulation of the condensate through non-resonant pumping. Thus, we experimentally demonstrate a polariton amplifier with a large band width, opening the way towards the transport of polaritons with high densities over macroscopic distances.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗