Abstract
The realization of exciton polaritons—hybrid excitations of semiconductor quantum well excitons and cavity photons—has been of great technological and scientific significance. In particular, the short-range collisional interaction between excitons has enabled explorations into a wealth of nonequilibrium and hydrodynamical effects that arise in weakly nonlinear polariton condensates. Yet, the ability to enhance optical nonlinearities would enable quantum photonics applications and open up a new realm of photonic many-body physics in a scalable and engineerable solid-state environment. Here we outline a route to such capabilities in cavity-coupled semiconductors by exploiting the giant interactions between excitons in Rydberg states. We demonstrate that optical nonlinearities in such systems can be vastly enhanced by several orders of magnitude and induce nonlinear processes at the level of single photons.
Highlights
The achievement of strong coupling between quantumwell excitons and optical photons in semiconductor microcavities [1] has ushered in new lines of research on exciton-polariton systems
We demonstrate that optical nonlinearities in such systems can be vastly enhanced by several orders of magnitude and induce nonlinear processes at the level of single photons
Excited states of excitons have been observed in transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) monolayers [11] and in Cuprous Oxide, where high lying Rydberg states with principal quantum numbers of up to n = 25 could be demonstrated [12]
Summary
where R = R1 −R2 is the vector connecting the excitons’ centers of mass, qe1h2 = mhr1 +mer2 and qez1h2 = qe1h2 R/R is the projection of this vector on R. We arrive at the well-known dipole-dipole interaction (in relative and center of mass coordinates) with zi = riR/R − 3z1z2] .
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