Colloquium: Oleksandr Kyriienko
Wednesday, February 24, 2016 · 3:30 - 4:30 PM
TITLE: Light-matter interaction for quantum technologies
ABSTRACT: The coupling between light and matter bridges two different realms, taking the better parts from both worlds. It allows for extra high degree of control of solid state excitations by optical or microwave frequency light manipulation. Being observed in various solid state systems, ranging from semiconductors to ferromagnets, the strong coupling limit of light-matter interaction leads to emergence of polaritonics. In this colloquium I am going to discuss the physics of exciton polaritons – hybrid quasiparticles formed by cavity photons and excitons in a semiconductor quantum well. I will review the advances in the field and provide the roadmap towards new generation of polariton-based devices. Ultimately, going to the low occupation limit for the modes and searching for a system with large effective nonlinearity, I will introduce the area of quantum polaritonics, where the quantum effects for light-matter particles may be explored.
ABSTRACT: The coupling between light and matter bridges two different realms, taking the better parts from both worlds. It allows for extra high degree of control of solid state excitations by optical or microwave frequency light manipulation. Being observed in various solid state systems, ranging from semiconductors to ferromagnets, the strong coupling limit of light-matter interaction leads to emergence of polaritonics. In this colloquium I am going to discuss the physics of exciton polaritons – hybrid quasiparticles formed by cavity photons and excitons in a semiconductor quantum well. I will review the advances in the field and provide the roadmap towards new generation of polariton-based devices. Ultimately, going to the low occupation limit for the modes and searching for a system with large effective nonlinearity, I will introduce the area of quantum polaritonics, where the quantum effects for light-matter particles may be explored.