Organic Polariton Microcavities for Ultra-Low Energy Switching

这项研究的目标是开发快速、节能、可集成到更大的光子系统中的光计算组件。该方法是建立在对强光物质耦合系统的偏振电子态的理解和使用的最新进展的基础上，并展示室温低阈值偏振子激光器和偏振子介导型全光开关，这两个组件都是设想的全光计算体系的主要组件。尽管激光器和光开关在概念上完全不同，但该项目将表明，在这两种情况下都可以利用强光耦合的基本物理原理来创造具有超低阈值的开关和激光设备。研究人员最近证明，极化子效应将在创纪录的光学吸收分子聚集体中得到极大增强，使紧凑的、室温极化子结构的首次演示成为可能。拟议中的极化电子设备也是可扩展和可集成的，并最终可能形成集成的全光计算架构的构建块。通过创建具有几乎无限带宽和前所未有的能源效率的全光数据网络和计算电路，光计算有可能改变信息传输和处理的方式。到目前为止，由于缺乏合适的材料组合、光与物质的相互作用和设备设计，这一长期目标很难实现。然而，本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，实现技术突破，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.