Coherent matter in semiconductor microcavities: non-equilibrium polariton condensates

该项目旨在研究一种在特殊半导体微腔中产生相干物质的全新方法。我们已经建立了一个理论模型，该模型强烈地表明，在特殊定制的光脉冲与包含量子点的微腔相互作用中，可能会产生非平衡玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体。我们需要扩展这个模型，以包括更真实的物理细节，并建立一个实验，能够检测发射光谱中的特殊信号，从而确认微腔中凝聚体的存在。理论工作将扩展目前的理解，包括相关的物理，如多能级和无序，以及仔细绘制出预期行为的限制。这项实验将使在激发光具有特殊的频率结构并以任意角度进入微腔的条件下测量微腔的光发射成为可能。同样，发射可以以亚皮秒的时间分辨率采样，并以任意角度收集，因此可以通过动力学和角度特征来探测特殊效应，如凝聚体进入k=0态的预期浓度。所探讨的问题是相干物质研究的核心，相干物质的研究似乎越来越为新物理以及最终的新技术提供了广阔的前景。

This project aims to investigate a completely new approach to creation of coherent matter in special semiconductor microcavities. We have already produced a theoretical model which strongly suggests that a non-equilibrium Bose-Einstein condensate may be produced in the interaction of specially tailored optical pulses with a microcavity containing quantum dots. We need to extend this model to include more realistic details of the physics, and to build an experiment which is capable of detecting the special signatures in the emission spectrum which would confirm the presence of the condensate in the microcavity. The theoretical work will extend the present understanding to include relevant physics such as multiple levels and disorder, as well as carefully mapping out the limits to the expected behaviour. The experiment will make it possible to carry out measurements of the optical emission from a microcavity under conditions in which the exciting light has a special frequency structure, and enters the cavity at an arbitrary angle. Likewise the emission can be sampled with sub-picosecond time resolution and collected at an arbitrary angle, so special effects such as the expected concentration of the condensate into the k=0 state can be probed through dynamical and angular signatures. The issues probed lie at the heart of studies of coherent matter, which increasingly appears to offer rich prospects both for new physics, and ultimately, new technologies.