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Title: Microcavity-like exciton-polaritons can be the primary photoexcitation in bare organic semiconductors

Journal Article · · Nature Communications
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  1. Univ. of Cambridge (United Kingdom). Cavendish Lab.
  2. Univ. of Cambridge (United Kingdom)
  3. Stockholm Univ. (Sweden)
  4. Univ. of Sheffield (United Kingdom)
  5. Sorbonne Univ., Paris (France)
  6. Univ. of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA (United States)
  7. Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States); Kebotix, Inc., Cambridge, MA (United States)
  8. Univ. of Oxford (United Kingdom)
  9. Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States). Baker Lab.

Strong-coupling between excitons and confined photonic modes can lead to the formation of new quasi-particles termed exciton-polaritons which can display a range of interesting properties such as super-fluidity, ultrafast transport and Bose-Einstein condensation. Strong-coupling typically occurs when an excitonic material is confided in a dielectric or plasmonic microcavity. Here, we show polaritons can form at room temperature in a range of chemically diverse, organic semiconductor thin films, despite the absence of an external cavity. We find evidence of strong light-matter coupling via angle-dependent peak splittings in the reflectivity spectra of the materials and emission from collective polariton states. We additionally show exciton-polaritons are the primary photoexcitation in these organic materials by directly imaging their ultrafast (5 × 106 m s–1), ultralong (~270 nm) transport. These results open-up new fundamental physics and could enable a new generation of organic optoelectronic and light harvesting devices based on cavity-free exciton-polaritons.

Research Organization:
Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); European Research Council (ERC); Swedish Research Council (SRC); Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0019188; 670405; 758826; ERC-2014-STG H2020 639088; VR, 2014-06948; EP/R025517/1; EP/M025330/1
OSTI ID:
1904357
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Vol. 12, Issue 1; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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