Organic Polariton Microcavities for Ultra-Low Energy Switching

本研究的目标是开发快速、节能且可集成到更大的光子系统中的光学计算组件。该方法是建立在对强光-材料耦合系统的极化状态的理解和使用的最新进展的基础上，并演示室温低阈值极化激光器和极化介导的全光开关，这两个都是设想的全光计算架构的主要组成部分。虽然激光和光开关在概念上是完全不同的，但该项目将表明，在这两种情况下，强光-物质耦合的潜在物理原理都可以用来制造具有超低阈值的开关和激光设备。研究人员最近证明，在创纪录的高光吸收分子聚集体中，极化离子效应将得到强烈增强，从而首次展示了紧凑的室温极化离子结构。所提出的极化器件也是可扩展和可集成的，并且最终可以形成集成全光计算架构的构建块。光计算有可能通过创建几乎无限带宽和前所未有的能量效率的全光数据网络和计算电路，在信息传输和操作方式上创造一种范式转变。由于缺乏合适的材料组合、光-物质相互作用和设备设计，这个长期的目标迄今为止很难实现。然而，该提案所基于的最新进展，可以使光学计算组件的构建首次利用强光-物质耦合的物理现象，带来技术突破，并在智力上刺激一个新的研究领域。

The objective of this research is to develop optical computing components that are fast, energy efficient, and integrateable into a larger photonic system. The approach is to build on the recent advancements in the understanding and use of the polaritonic states of strongly light-mater-coupled systems, and to demonstrate a room temperature low-threshold polariton laser and a polariton-mediated all-optical switch, both primary components of an envisioned all-optical computing architecture.Although a laser and an optical switch are conceptually quite different, the project will show that the underlying physics of strong light-matter coupling can be leveraged in both cases to create devices with ultra-low thresholds for switching and lasing. Polaritonic effects will be strongly enhanced in the record-high optically-absorptive molecular aggregates, that investigators recently demonstrated, enabling first demonstrations of compact, room-temperature polaritonic structures. The proposed polaritonic devices are also scalable and integrateable, and could ultimately form the building blocks of an integrated all-optical computing architecture. Optical computing has the potential to create a paradigm shift in the way information is transmitted and manipulated, by creating all-optical data networks and computational circuits with nearly unlimited bandwidth and unprecedented energy efficiency. This long-standing goal has thus far been difficult to achieve due to a lack of appropriate material sets, light-matter interactions, and device designs. Recent advancements, however, that this proposal builds on, can enable construction of optical computing components that for the first-time utilize the physical phenomenon of the strong light-matter coupling, delivering a technological breakthrough, and intellectually stimulating a new field of research.