Open AccessRoom temperature strong coupling in a semiconductor microcavity with embedded AlGaAs quantum wells designed for polariton lasing
Author(s) -
Holger Suchomel,
Sebastian Kreutzer,
M. Jörg,
Sebastian Brodbeck,
Maciej Pieczarka,
Simon Betzold,
Christof P. Dietrich,
G. Sęk,
Christian Schneider,
Sven Höfling
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.25.024816
Subject(s) - polariton , lasing threshold , quantum well , photoluminescence , exciton , materials science , condensed matter physics , semiconductor , optoelectronics , laser , excitation , atomic physics , physics , optics , quantum mechanics
We report a systematic study of the temperature and excitation density behavior of an AlAs/AlGaAs, vertically emitting microcavity with embedded ternary Al 0.20 Ga 0.80 As/AlAs quantum wells in the strong coupling regime. Temperature-dependent photoluminescence measurements of the bare quantum wells indicate a crossover from the type-II indirect to the type-I direct transition. The resulting mixing of quantum well and barrier ground states in the conduction band leads to an estimated exciton binding energy systematically exceeding 25 meV. The formation of exciton-polaritons is evidenced in our quantum well microcavity via reflection measurements with Rabi splittings ranging from (13.93 ± 0.15) meV at low temperature (30 K) to (8.58 ± 0.40) meV at room temperature (300 K). Furthermore, the feasibility of polariton laser operation is demonstrated under non-resonant optical excitation conditions at 20 K and emission around 1.835 eV.