Lasing and polariton condensation: Two distinct transitions in GaAs microcavities with stress traps

Journal Article · Mon Jun 15 00:00:00 EDT 2009 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3140822· OSTI ID:21357556

Nelsen, B; Balili, R; Snoke, D W ^[1]; Pfeiffer, L; West, K ^[2]

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1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, 3941 O'Hara St., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260 (United States)
2. Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies, 700 Mountain Ave., Murray Hill, New Jersey 07974 (United States)

We have used stress to create a harmonic potential for polaritons in GaAs microcavities and have previously reported that the polaritons undergo spontaneous coherence in the trap. In this paper we present results for both trapped conditions and resonant, nontrapped conditions in the same sample. We find that the results are qualitatively different with two distinct types of transitions. At low density in the trap, the polaritons remain in the strong coupling regime while going through the threshold for onset of coherence; at higher density, there is a different threshold behavior, which occurs with weak coupling and can be identified with lasing; this transition occurs both with and without a trap. The transition at lower density can therefore be identified as a type of nonequilibrium Bose-Einstein condensation.

• OSTI ID: 21357556
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 105, Issue 12; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3140822; (c) 2009 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
BOSE-EINSTEIN CONDENSATION
GALLIUM ARSENIDES
HARMONIC POTENTIAL
POLARONS
SEMICONDUCTOR LASERS
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
STRESSES
STRONG-COUPLING MODEL
ARSENIC COMPOUNDS
ARSENIDES
GALLIUM COMPOUNDS
LASERS
MATERIALS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NUCLEAR POTENTIAL
PARTICLE MODELS
PNICTIDES
POTENTIALS
QUASI PARTICLES
SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
SOLID STATE LASERS