arXiv subjects

J. J. Baumberg

Publications and source records attributed to J. J. Baumberg.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2022

Accurate Transfer of Individual Nanoparticles onto Single Photonic Nanostructures

Controlled integration of metallic nanoparticles (NPs) onto photonic nanostructures enables realization of complex devices for extreme light confinement and enhanced light-matter interaction. This can be achieved combining Nanoparticle-on-Mirror (NPoM) nanocavities with the light manipulation capabilities of micron-scale metallic antennas and/or photonic integrated waveguides. However, metallic nanoparticles are usually deposited via drop-casting, which prevents their accurate positioning. Here we present a methodology for precise transfer and positioning of individual NPs onto different photonic nanostructures. The method is based on soft lithography printing that employs elastomeric stamp-assisted transfer of individual NPs onto a single nanostructure. It can also parallel imprint many individual NPs with high throughput and accuracy in a single step. Raman spectroscopy confirms enhanced light-matter interactions in the resulting NPoM-based devices. Our method mixes top-down and bottom-up nanofabrication techniques and shows the potential of building complex photonic nanodevices for applications ranging from enhanced sensing and spectroscopy to signal processing.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2018

Synchronization crossover of polariton condensates in weakly disordered lattices

We demonstrate that the synchronization of a lattice of solid-state condensates when inter-site tunnelling is switched on, depends strongly on the weak local disorder. This finding is vital for implementation of condensate arrays as computation devices. The condensates here are nonlinear bosonic fluids of exciton-polaritons trapped in a weakly disordered Bose-Hubbard potential, where the nearest neighboring tunneling rate (Josephson coupling) can be dynamically tuned. The system can thus be tuned from a localized to a delocalized fluid as the number density, or the Josephson coupling between nearest neighbors increases. The localized fluid is observed as a lattice of unsynchronized condensates emitting at different energies set by the disorder potential. In the delocalized phase the condensates synchronize, and long-range order appears, evidenced by narrowing of momentum and energy distributions, new diffraction peaks in momentum space, and spatial coherence between condensates. Our work identifies similarities and differences of this nonequilibrium crossover to the traditional Bose-glass to superfluid transition in atomic condensates.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2018

Strain-assisted optomechanical coupling of polariton condensate spin to a micromechanical resonator

We report spin and intensity coupling of an exciton-polariton condensate to the mechanical vibrations of a circular membrane microcavity. We optically drive the microcavity resonator at the lowest mechanical resonance frequency while creating an optically-trapped spin-polarized polariton condensate in different locations on the microcavity, and observe spin and intensity oscillations of the condensate at the vibration frequency of the resonator. Spin oscillations are induced by vibrational strain driving, whilst the modulation of the optical trap due to the displacement of the membrane causes intensity oscillations in the condensate emission. Our results demonstrate spin-phonon coupling in a macroscopically coherent condensate.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Spin order and phase transitions in chains of polariton condensates

We demonstrate that multiply-coupled spinor polariton condensates can be optically tuned through a sequence of spin-ordered phases by changing the coupling strength between nearest neighbors. For closed 4-condensate chains these phases span from ferromagnetic (FM) to antiferromagnetic (AFM), separated by an unexpected crossover phase. This crossover phase is composed of alternating FM-AFM bonds. For larger 8 condensate chains, we show the critical role of spatial inhomogeneities and demonstrate a scheme to overcome them and prepare any desired spin state. Our observations thus demonstrate a fully controllable non-equilibrium spin lattice.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

A driven-dissipative spin chain model based on exciton-polariton condensates

An infinite chain of driven-dissipative condensate spins with uniform nearest-neighbor coherent coupling is solved analytically and investigated numerically. Above a critical occupation threshold the condensates undergo spontaneous spin bifurcation (becoming magnetized) forming a binary chain of spin-up or spin-down states. Minimization of the bifurcation threshold determines the magnetic order as a function of the coupling strength. This allows control of multiple magnetic orders via adiabatic (slow ramping of) pumping. In addition to ferromagnetic and anti-ferromagnetic ordered states we show the formation of a paired-spin ordered state $\left|\dots \uparrow \uparrow \downarrow \downarrow \dots \right. \rangle$ as a consequence of the phase degree of freedom between condensates.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2016

Tunable magnetic alignment between trapped exciton-polariton condensates

Tunable spin correlations are found to arise between two neighboring trapped exciton-polariton condensates which spin-polarize spontaneously. We observe a crossover from an antiferromagnetic- to a ferromagnetic pair state by reducing the coupling barrier in real-time using control of the imprinted pattern of pump light. Fast optical switching of both condensates is then achieved by resonantly but weakly triggering only a single condensate. These effects can be explained as the competition between spin bifurcations and spin-preserving Josephson coupling between the two condensates, and open the way to polariton Bose-Hubbard ladders.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2015

Magneto-optical coupling in whispering gallery mode resonators

We demonstrate that yttrium iron garnet microspheres support optical whispering gallery modes similar to those in non-magnetic dielectric materials. The direction of the ferromagnetic moment tunes both the resonant frequency via the Voigt effect as well as the degree of polarization rotation via the Faraday effect. An understanding of the magneto-optical coupling in whispering gallery modes, where the propagation direction rotates with respect to the magnetization, is fundamental to the emerging field of cavity optomagnonics.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Spontaneous spin bifurcations and ferromagnetic phase transitions in a spinor exciton-polariton condensate

We observe a spontaneous parity breaking bifurcation to a ferromagnetic state in a spatially trapped exciton-polariton condensate. At a critical bifurcation density under nonresonant excitation, the whole condensate spontaneously magnetizes and randomly adopts one of two elliptically polarized (up to 95% circularly-polarized) states with opposite handedness of polarization. The magnetized condensate remains stable for many seconds at 5 K, but at higher temperatures it can flip from one magnetic orientation to another. We optically address these states and demonstrate the inversion of the magnetic state by resonantly injecting 100-fold weaker pulses of opposite spin. Theoretically, these phenomena can be well described as spontaneous symmetry breaking of the spin degree of freedom induced by different loss rates of the linear polarizations.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Sculpting oscillators with light within a nonlinear quantum fluid

Seeing macroscopic quantum states directly remains an elusive goal. Particles with boson symmetry can condense into such quantum fluids producing rich physical phenomena as well as proven potential for interferometric devices [1-10]. However direct imaging of such quantum states is only fleetingly possible in high-vacuum ultracold atomic condensates, and not in superconductors. Recent condensation of solid state polariton quasiparticles, built from mixing semiconductor excitons with microcavity photons, offers monolithic devices capable of supporting room temperature quantum states [11-14] that exhibit superfluid behaviour [15,16]. Here we use microcavities on a semiconductor chip supporting two-dimensional polariton condensates to directly visualise the formation of a spontaneously oscillating quantum fluid. This system is created on the fly by injecting polaritons at two or more spatially-separated pump spots. Although oscillating at tuneable THz-scale frequencies, a simple optical microscope can be used to directly image their stable archetypal quantum oscillator wavefunctions in real space. The self-repulsion of polaritons provides a solid state quasiparticle that is so nonlinear as to modify its own potential. Interference in time and space reveals the condensate wavepackets arise from non-equilibrium solitons. Control of such polariton condensate wavepackets demonstrates great potential for integrated semiconductor-based condensate devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Voltage-controlled electron tunnelling from a single self-assembled quantum dot embedded in a two-dimensional-electron-gas-based photovoltaic cell

We perform high-resolution photocurrent (PC) spectroscopy to investigate resonantly the neutral exciton ground-state (X0) in a single InAs/GaAs self-assembled quantum dot (QD) embedded in the intrinsic region of an n-i-Schottky photodiode based on a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG), which was formed from a Si delta-doped GaAs layer. Using such a device, a single-QD PC spectrum of X0 is measured by sweeping the bias-dependent X0 transition energy through that of a fixed narrow-bandwidth laser via the quantum-confined Stark effect (QCSE). By repeating such a measurement for a series of laser energies, a precise relationship between the X0 transition energy and bias voltage is then obtained. Taking into account power broadening of the X0 absorption peak, this allows for high-resolution measurements of the X0 homogeneous linewidth and, hence, the electron tunnelling rate. The electron tunnelling rate is measured as a function of the vertical electric field and described accurately by a theoretical model, yielding information about the electron confinement energy and QD height. We demonstrate that our devices can operate as 2DEG-based QD photovoltaic cells and conclude by proposing two optical spintronic devices that are now feasible.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Bragg Polaritons: Strong Coupling and Amplification in an Unfolded Microcavity

Periodic incorporation of quantum wells inside a one--dimensional Bragg structure is shown to enhance coherent coupling of excitons to the electromagnetic Bloch waves. We demonstrate strong coupling of quantum well excitons to photonic crystal Bragg modes at the edge of the photonic bandgap, which gives rise to mixed Bragg polariton eigenstates. The resulting Bragg polariton branches are in good agreement with the theory and allow demonstration of Bragg polariton parametric amplification.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2008

Spontaneous Polarisation Build up in a Room Temperature Polariton Laser

We observe the build up of strong (~50%) spontaneous vector polarisation in emission from a GaN-based polariton laser excited by short optical pulses at room temperature. The Stokes vector of emitted light changes its orientation randomly from one excitation pulse to another, so that the time-integrated polarisation remains zero. This behaviour is completely different to any previous laser. We interpret this observation in terms of the spontaneous symmetry breaking in a Bose-Einstein condensate of exciton-polaritons.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2005

Plasmonic bandgaps and Trapped Plasmons on Nanostructured Metal Surfaces

Nanostructured metal surfaces comprised of periodically arranged spherical voids are grown by electrochemical deposition through a self-assembled template. Detailed measurements of the angle- and orientation-dependent reflectivity reveal the spectral dispersion, from which we identify the presence of both delocalized Bragg- and localized Mie-plasmons. These couple strongly producing bonding and anti-bonding mixed plasmons with anomalous dispersion properties. Appropriate plasmon engineering of the void morphology selects the plasmon spatial and spectral positions, allowing these plasmonic crystal films to be optimised for a wide range of sensing applications.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2005

Pyramidal micro-mirrors for microsystems and atom chips

Concave pyramids are created in the (100) surface of a silicon wafer by anisotropic etching in potassium hydroxide. High quality micro-mirrors are then formed by sputtering gold onto the smooth silicon (111) faces of the pyramids. These mirrors show great promise as high quality optical devices suitable for integration into MOEMS and atom chips. We have shown that structures of this shape can be used to laser-cool and hold atoms in a magneto-optical trap.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2004

Fabrication of micro-mirrors with pyramidal shape using anisotropic etching of silicon

Gold micro-mirrors have been formed in silicon in an inverted pyramidal shape. The pyramidal structures are created in the (100) surface of a silicon wafer by anisotropic etching in potassium hydroxide. High quality micro-mirrors are then formed by sputtering gold onto the smooth silicon (111) faces of the pyramids. These mirrors show great promise as high quality optical devices suitable for integration into MOEMS systems.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2004

Tunable Resonant Optical MicroCavities by Self-Assembled Templating

Micron-scale optical cavities are produced using a combination of template sphere self-assembly and electrochemical growth. Transmission measurements of the tunable microcavities show sharp resonant modes with a Q-factor>300, and 25-fold local enhancement of light intensity. The presence of transverse optical modes confirms the lateral confinement of photons. Calculations show sub-micron mode volumes are feasible. The small mode volume of these microcavities promises to lead to a wide range of applications in microlasers, atom optics, quantum information, biophotonics and single molecule detection.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2002

Polariton dynamics and Bose-Einstein condensation in semiconductor microcavities

We present a theoretical model that allows us to describe the polariton dynamics in a semiconductor microcavity at large densities, for the case of non-resonant excitation. Exciton-polariton scattering from a thermalized exciton reservoir is identified as the main mechanism for relaxation into the lower polariton states. A maximum in the polariton distribution that shifts towards lower energies with increasing pump-power or temperature is shown, in agreement with recent experiments. Above a critical pump-power, macroscopic occupancies (5 \times 10^4) can be achieved in the lowest energy polariton state. Our model predicts the possibility of Bose-Einstein Condensation of polaritons, driven by exciton-polariton interaction, at densities well below the saturation density for CdTe microcavities.

cond-mat↗