"This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."
Objective: We develop an electrically pumped microcavity exciton-polariton laser as a novel coherent light source based on the exotic quantum nature, Bose-Einstein Condensation (BEC) of microcavity exciton-polaritons. In a monolithic semiconductor structure, half-light and half-matter exciton-polaritons will emit spontaneously a single-mode, tightly-focused and monochromatic coherent electromagnetic wave via BEC process; consequently, the laser will operate at a much lower external pump power without population inversion. An electrical pumping scheme can build the polariton laser in a compact format towards various practical applications. Our approach is (1) to design and to fabricate an optimized p-i-n microcavity structure with multiple quantum wells through high-quality molecular beam epitaxy method, and (2) to characterize the performance of the aforementioned laser device.
Intellectual Merit: Such novel and efficient laser would advance progresses in optical communication and data storage, and optical interconnect circuits. It also serves as a testbed to study the fundamental physics of microcavity exciton-polariton systems: BEC mechanisms under electrical pumping and the phase diagram of standard photon laser, microcavity exciton-polaritons BEC and BCS in terms of light-matter coupling strength.
Broader Impacts: Our proposed research will be a driving impetus to show that validated physics would lead to unprecedented, efficient and advanced engineering applications. Thus, we highly anticipate that postdoctoral scholars, graduate and undergraduate students will grasp both comprehensive knowledge of fundamental science and the development of associated engineering devices using the advanced optical and device processing technologies. We will continue to outreach and educate broader audience with our research activities through diverse communicating channels as to the progress of our research activities.
