arXiv subjects

Qihua Xiong

Publications and source records attributed to Qihua Xiong.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

Coherent Optical Spin Hall Transport for Spin-optronics at Room Temperature

Spin or valley degrees of freedom in condensed matter have been proposed as efficient information carriers towards next generation spintronics. It is therefore crucial to develop effective strategies to generate and control spin or valley-locked spin currents, e.g., by exploiting the spin Hall or valley Hall effects. However, the scattering, and rapid dephasing of electrons pose major challenges to achieve macroscopic coherent spin currents and realistic spintronic or valleytronic devices, specifically at room temperature, where strong thermal fluctuations could further obscure the spin flow. Exciton polaritons in semiconductor microcavities being the quantum superposition of excitons and photons, are believed to be promising platforms for spin-dependent optoelectronic or, in short, spin-optronic devices. Long-range spin current flows of exciton polaritons may be controlled through the optical spin Hall effect. However, this effect could neither be unequivocally observed at room temperature nor be exploited for realistic polariton spintronic devices due to the presence of strong thermal fluctuations or large linear spin splittings. Here, we report the observation of room temperature optical spin Hall effect of exciton polaritons with the spin current flow over a distance as large as 60 um in a hybrid organic-inorganic FAPbBr3 perovskite microcavity. We show direct evidence of the long-range coherence at room temperature in the flow of exciton polaritons, and the spin current carried by them. By harnessing the long-range spin-Hall transport of exciton polaritons, we have demonstrated two novel room temperature polaritonic devices, namely the NOT gate and the spin-polarized beam splitter, advancing the frontier of room-temperature polaritonics in perovskite microcavities.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Topological Single Photon Emission from Quantum Emitter Chains

We develop a scheme of generating highly indistinguishable single photons from an active quantum Su-Schrieffer-Heeger chain made from a collection of noisy quantum emitters. Surprisingly, the single photon emission spectrum of the active quantum chain is extremely narrow compared to that of a single emitter or topologically trivial chain. Moreover, this effect becomes dramatically strong close to the non-trivial-to-trivial phase transition point. Using this effect, we show that the single photon linewidth of a long topological quantum chain can become arbitrarily narrow, constituting an ideal source of indistinguishable single photons. Finally, taking specific examples of actual quantum emitters, we provide a microscopic and quantitative analysis of our model and analyze the most important parameters in view of the experimental realization.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Spectral fingerprint of quantum confinement in single CsPbBr$_3$ nanocrystals

Lead halide perovskite nanocrystals are promising materials for classical and quantum light emission. To understand these outstanding properties, a thorough analysis of the band-edge exciton emission is needed which is not reachable in ensemble and room temperature studies because of broadening effects. Here, we report on a cryogenic-temperature study of the photoluminescence of single CsPbBr$_3$ NCs in the intermediate quantum confinement regime. We reveal the size-dependence of the spectral features observed: the bright-triplet exciton energy splittings, the trion and biexciton binding energies as well as the optical phonon replica spectrum. In addition, we show that bright triplet energy splittings are consistent with a pure exchange model and that the variety of polarisation properties and spectra recorded can be rationalised simply by considering the orientation of the emitting dipoles and the populations of the emitting states.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Room-Temperature Bound States in the Continuum Polariton Condensation

Exciton-polaritons resulting from the strong exciton-photon interaction stimulate the development of novel coherent light sources with low threshold, long range spatial, and temporal coherence to circumvent the ever increasing energy demands of optical communications. Polaritons from bound states in the continuum (BICs) are promising for Bose-Einstein condensation owing to their infinite quality factors that enlarge photon lifetimes and benefit polariton accumulations. However, BIC polariton condensation remains limited to cryogenic temperatures ascribed to the small exciton binding energies of conventional material platforms. Herein, we demonstrated a room-temperature BIC polaritonic platform based on halide perovskite air-hole photonic crystals, profiting from the non-radiative BIC states and stable excitons of cesium lead bromide. BIC polariton condensation was achieved near the dispersion minimum that generates directional vortex beam emission with long-range coherence. Our work provides a significant basis for the applications of polariton condensates for integrated photonic and topological circuits.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Unveiling the Enhancement of Spontaneous Emission at Exceptional Points

Exceptional points (EPs), singularities of non-Hermitian physics where complex spectral resonances degenerate, are one of the most exotic features of nonequilibrium open systems with unique properties. For instance, the emission rate of quantum emitters placed near resonators with EPs is enhanced (compared to the free-space emission rate) by a factor that scales quadratically with the resonance quality factor. Here, we verify the theory of spontaneous emission at EPs by measuring photoluminescence from photonic-crystal slabs that are embedded with a high-quantum-yield active material. While our experimental results verify the theoretically predicted enhancement, it also highlights the practical limitations on the enhancement due to material loss. Our designed structures can be used in applications that require enhanced and controlled emission, such as quantum sensing and imaging.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2022

Layer-dependent interlayer antiferromagnetic spin reorientation in air-stable semiconductor CrSBr

Magnetic van der Waals (vdW) materials offer a fantastic platform to investigate and exploit rich spin configurations stabilized in reduced dimensions. One tantalizing magnetic order is the interlayer antiferromagnetism in A-type vdW antiferromagnet, which may be effectively modified by the magnetic field, stacking order and thickness scaling. However, atomically revealing the interlayer spin orientation in the vdW antiferromagnet is highly challenging, because most of the material candidates exhibit an insulating ground state or instability in ambient conditions. Here, we report the layer-dependent interlayer antiferromagnetic reorientation in air-stable semiconductor CrSBr using magnetotransport characterization and first-principles calculations. We reveal a pronounced odd-even layer effect of interlayer reorientation, which originates from the competitions among interlayer exchange, magnetic anisotropy energy and extra Zeeman energy of uncompensated magnetization. Furthermore, we quantitatively constructed the layer-dependent magnetic phase diagram with the help of a linear-chain model. Our work uncovers the layer-dependent interlayer antiferromagnetic reorientation engineered by magnetic field in the air-stable semiconductor, which could contribute to future vdW spintronic devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Direct Measurement of a Non-Hermitian Topological Invariant in a Hybrid Light-Matter System

Topology is central to understanding and engineering materials that display robust physical phenomena immune to imperfections. Different topological phases of matter are characterised by topological invariants. In energy-conserving (Hermitian) systems, these invariants are determined by the winding of eigenstates in momentum space. In non-Hermitian systems, a novel topological invariant is predicted to emerge from the winding of the complex eigenenergies. Here, we directly measure the non-Hermitian topological invariant arising from exceptional points in the momentum-resolved spectrum of exciton polaritons. These are hybrid light-matter quasiparticles formed by photons strongly coupled to electron-hole pairs (excitons) in a halide perovskite semiconductor at room temperature. We experimentally map out both the real (energy) and imaginary (linewidth) parts of the spectrum near the exceptional points and extract the novel topological invariant - fractional spectral winding. Our work represents an essential step towards realisation of non-Hermitian topological phases in a condensed matter system.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2021

Room-temperature bipolar valleytronic transistor in MoS2/WSe2 heterostructures

Valley degree of freedom in the 2D semiconductor is a promising platform for the next generation optoelectronics. Electrons in different valleys can have opposite Berry curvature, leading to the valley Hall effect (VHE). However, VHE without the plasmonic structure's assistance has only been reported in cryogenic temperature, limiting its practical application. Here, we report the observation of VHE at room temperature in the MoS2/WSe2 heterostructures. We also uncover that both the magnitude and the polarity of the VHE in the 2D heterostructure is gate tunable. We attribute this to the opposite VHE contribution from the electron and hole in different layers. These results indicate the bipolar transport nature of our valleytronic transistor. Utilizing this gate tunability, we demonstrate a bipolar valleytronic transistor. Our results can be used to improve the ON/OFF ratio of the valleytronic transistor and to realize more versatile valleytronics logic circuits.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Layer engineered interlayer excitons

Photoluminescence (PL) from excitons serves as a powerful tool to characterize the optoelectronic property and band structure of semiconductors, especially for atomically thin 2D transition metal chalcogenide (TMD) materials. However, PL quenches quickly when the thickness of TMD material increases from monolayer to few-layers, due to the change from direct to indirect band transition. Here we show that PL can be recovered by engineering multilayer heterostructures, with the band transition reserved to be direct type. We report emission from layer engineered interlayer excitons from these multilayer heterostructures. Moreover, as desired for valleytronic devices, the lifetime, valley polarization, and the valley lifetime of the generated interlayer excitons can all be significantly improved as compared with that in the monolayer-monolayer heterostructure. Our results pave the way for controlling the properties of interlayer excitons by layer engineering.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Optical Control of Topological Polariton Phase in a Perovskite Lattice

Strong light-matter interaction enriches topological photonics by dressing light with matter, which provides the possibility to realize tuneable topological devices with immunity to defects. Topological exciton polaritons, half-light half-matter quasiparticles with giant optical nonlinearity represent a unique platform for active topological photonics with phase tunability. Previous demonstrations of exciton polariton topological insulators still demand cryogenic temperatures and their topological properties are usually fixed without phase tunability. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a room-temperature exciton polariton topological insulator with active phase tunability in a perovskite zigzag lattice. Polarization serves as a degree of freedom to control the reversible transition between distinct topological phases, thanks to the polarization-dependent anisotropy in halide perovskite microcavities. The topologically nontrivial polariton states localized in the edges persist in the presence of a natural defect, showing strong immunity to disorder. We further demonstrate that exciton polaritons can condense into the topological edge states under optical pumping. These results provide an ideal platform for realizing tuneable topological polaritonic devices with room-temperature operation, which can find important applications in optical control, modulation and switching.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2020

Ultralow Threshold Polariton Condensate in a Monolayer Semiconductor Microcavity at Room Temperature

Atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenides possess valley dependent functionalities that are usually available only at crogenic temperatures, constrained by various valley depolarization scatterings. The formation of exciton polaritons by coherently superimposing excitons and microcavity photons potentially harnesses the valley polarized polariton polariton interactions for novel valleytronics devices. Robust EPs have been demonstrated at room temperature in TMDs microcavity, however, the coherent polariton lasing and condensation remain elusive. Herein, we demonstrate for the first time the realization of EP condensation in a TMD microcavity at room temperature. The continuous wave pumped EP condensation and lasing with ultralow thresholdsis evidenced by the macroscopic occupation of the ground state, that undergoes a nonlinear increase of the emission and a continuous blueshift, a build up of spatial coherence, and a detuning-controlled threshold. Our work presents a critically important step towards exploiting nonlinear polariton polariton interactions and polaritonic devices with valley functionality at room temperature.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2020

Enhanced Valley Zeeman Splitting in Fe-Doped Monolayer MoS2

The Zeeman effect offers unique opportunities for magnetic manipulation of the spin degree of freedom (DOF). Recently, valley Zeeman splitting, referring to the lifting of valley degeneracy, has been demonstrated in two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) at liquid helium temperature. However, to realize the practical applications of valley pseudospins, the valley DOF must be controllable by a magnetic field at room temperature, which remains a significant challenge. Magnetic doping in TMDs can enhance the Zeeman splitting, however, to achieve this experimentally is not easy. Here, we report unambiguous magnetic manipulation of valley Zeeman splitting at 300 K (g = -6.4) and 10 K (g = -11) in a CVD-grown Fe-doped MoS2 monolayer; the effective g factor can be tuned to -20.7 by increasing the Fe dopant concentration, which represents an approximately fivefold enhancement as compared to undoped MoS2. Our measurements and calculations reveal that the enhanced splitting and geff factors are due to the Heisenberg exchange interaction of the localized magnetic moments (Fe 3d electrons) with MoS2 through the d-orbital hybridization.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

Room temperature nanocavity laser with interlayer excitons in 2D heterostructures

Atomically thin layered two dimensional (2D) material has provided a rich library for both fundamental research and device applications. One of the special advantages is that, bandgap engineering and controlled material response can be achieved by stacking different 2D materials. Recently several types of excitonic lasers have been reported based on Transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) monolayers, however, the emission is still the intrinsic energy bandgap of the monolayers and lasers harnessing the flexibility of Van der Waals heterostructures have not been demonstrated yet. Here, we report for the first time a room temperature interlayer exciton laser with MoS2/WSe2 heterostructures. The onset of lasing action was identified by a combination of distinct kink in the 'L-L' curve and the noticeable collapse of spectral linewidth. Different from visible emission of intralayer excitons for both MoS2 and WSe2, our interlayer exciton laser works in the infrared range, which is fully compatible with the well-established technologies in silicon photonics. Thanks to the long lifetime of interlayer excitons, the requirement of the cavity quality factor is relaxed by orders of magnitude. The demonstration of room temperature interlayer exciton laser might open new perspectives for the development of coherent light source with tailored optical properties on silicon photonics platform.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

High yield production of ultrathin fibroid semiconducting nanowire of Ta$_2$Pd$_3$Se$_8$

Immediately after the demonstration of the high-quality electronic properties in various two dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) crystals fabricated with mechanical exfoliation, many methods have been reported to explore and control large scale fabrications. Comparing with recent advancements in fabricating 2D atomic layered crystals, large scale production of one dimensional (1D) nanowires with thickness approaching molecular or atomic level still remains stagnant. Here, we demonstrate the high yield production of a 1D vdW material, semiconducting Ta2Pd3Se8 nanowires, by means of liquid-phase exfoliation. The thinnest nanowire we have readily achieved is around 1 nm, corresponding to a bundle of one or two molecular ribbons. Transmission electron microscopy and transport measurements reveal the as-fabricated Ta2Pd3Se8 nanowires exhibit unexpected high crystallinity and chemical stability. Our low frequency Raman spectroscopy reveals clear evidence of the existing of weak inter-ribbon bindings. The fabricated nanowire transistors exhibit high switching performance and promising applications for photodetectors.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2019

Observation of Exciton Polariton Condensation in a Perovskite Lattice at Room Temperature

Bose-Einstein condensation in strongly correlated lattices provides the possibility to coherently generate macroscopic quantum states, which have attracted tremendous attention as ideal platforms for quantum simulation. Ultracold atoms in optical lattices are one of such promising systems, where their realizations of different phases of matter exhibit promising applications in condensed matter physics, chemistry, and cosmology. Nevertheless, this is only accessible with ultralow temperatures in the nano to micro Kelvin scale set by the typical inverse mass of an atom. Alternative systems such as lattices of trapped ions and superconducting circuit arrays also rely on ultracold temperatures. Exciton polaritons with extremely light effective mass, are regarded as promising alternatives to realize Bose-Einstein condensation in lattices at higher temperatures. Along with the condensation, an efficient exciton polariton quantum simulator would require a strong lattice with robust trapping at each lattice site as well as strong inter-site coupling to allow coherent quantum motion of polaritons within the lattice. However, exciton polaritons in a strong lattice have only been shown to condense at liquid helium temperatures. Here, we report the observation of exciton polariton condensation in a one-dimensional strong lead halide perovskite lattice at room temperature. Modulated by deep periodic potentials, the strong lead halide perovskite lattice exhibits a large forbidden bandgap opening up to 13.3 meV and a lattice band up to 8.5 meV wide, which are at least 10 times larger than previous systems. Above a critical density, we observe exciton polariton condensation into py orbital states with long-range spatial coherence at room temperature. Our result opens the route to the implementation of polariton condensates in quantum simulators at room temperature.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Optical control of a single spin-valley in charged WSe$_2$ quantum dots

Control and manipulation of single charges and their internal degrees of freedom, such as spins, is a fundamental goal of nanoscience with promising technological applications. Recently, atomically thin semiconductors such as WSe$_2$ have emerged as a platform for valleytronics, offering rich possibilities for optical, magnetic and electrical control of the valley index. While progress has been made in controlling valley index of ensemble of charge carriers, valley control of individual charges, crucial for valleytronics, remains unexplored. Here, we provide unambiguous evidence for localized holes with net spin in optically active WSe$_2$ quantum dots (QDs) and control their spin-valley state with the helicity of the excitation laser under small magnetic field. We estimate a lower bound on the valley lifetime of a single charge in QD from recombination time to be $\sim$ nanoseconds. Remarkably, neutral QDs do not exhibit such a control, demonstrating the role of excess charge in prolonging the valley lifetime. Our work extends the field of 2D valleytronics to the level of single spin-valley, relevant for quantum information and sensing applications

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Entanglement of single-photons and chiral phonons in atomically thin WSe$_2$

Quantum entanglement is a fundamental phenomenon which, on the one hand, reveals deep connections between quantum mechanics, gravity and the space-time; on the other hand, has practical applications as a key resource in quantum information processing. While it is routinely achieved in photon-atom ensembles, entanglement involving the solid-state or macroscopic objects remains challenging albeit promising for both fundamental physics and technological applications. Here, we report entanglement between collective, chiral vibrations in two-dimensional (2D) WSe$_2$ host --- chiral phonons (CPs) --- and single-photons emitted from quantum dots (QDs) present in it. CPs which carry angular momentum were recently observed in WSe$_2$ and are a distinguishing feature of the underlying honeycomb lattice. The entanglement results from a "which-way" scattering process, involving an optical excitation in a QD and doubly-degenerate CPs, which takes place via two indistinguishable paths. Our unveiling of entanglement involving a macroscopic, collective excitation together with strong interaction between CPs and QDs in 2D materials opens up ways for phonon-driven entanglement of QDs and engineering chiral or non-reciprocal interactions at the single-photon level.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Sub-20 nm Nanopores Sculptured by a Single Nanosecond Laser Pulse

Single-molecule based 3rd generation DNA sequencing technologies have been explored with tremendous effort, among which nanopore sequencing is considered as one of the most promising to achieve the goal of $1,000 genome project towards personalized medicine. Solid state nanopore is consented to be complementary to protein nanopore and subjected to extensive investigations in the past decade. However, the prevailing solid-state nanopore preparation still relies on focused ion or electron beams, which are expensive and time consuming. Here we demonstrate the fabrication of nanopores down to 19 nm with a single nanosecond laser pulse. The laser drilling process is understood based upon a 2D axisymmetric transient heat transfer model, which predicts the laser fluence-dependent pore size distribution and shape with excellent agreement to electron microscopy and tomography analysis. As-drilled nanopore devices (26 nm) exhibit adequate sensitivity to detect single DNA molecule translocations and discriminate unfolded or folded events. Sub-10 nm nanopores can be readily achieved upon a thin layer of alumina deposition by atomic layer deposition, which further improves the DNA translocation signal to noise ratio considerably. Our work provides a solution for fast, low-cost and efficient large-scale fabrication of solid state nanopore devices for the 3rd generation nanopore sequencing.

physics.bio-ph↗