Polarized stimulated emission from photonic molecule states in coupled microdisk lasers

ORAL

Abstract

Recent studies have demonstrated the engineering of spin coherence via photon-spin interactions in microdisk lasers [S. Ghosh {\it et al.}, Nature (Materials) {\bf 5}, 261 (2006)], motivating the extension of such measurements to pairs of microdisks coupled through the evanescent electromagnetic field. Such coupled microdisks behave like ``photonic molecules'' (PMs) with bonding and antibonding states for the confined photon modes [A. Nakagawa {\it et al.}, Appl. Phys. Lett. {\bf 86}, 04112 (2005)]. We describe the fabrication and optical characterization of different PM geometries, consisting of laterally coupled GaAs/GaAlAs microdisks of both circular and elliptical shape. Steady state photoluminescence measurements reveal bonding and antibonding modes with distinct geometry-dependent polarization characteristics that are consistent with finite-difference time-domain simulations. We also discuss time-resolved optical measurements that probe both carrier and spin dynamics in these PMs.

*Supported by NSF.

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Authors

  • X. Li

    • Dept. of Physics, Penn State University, University Park PA 16802

  • B.J. Cooley

    • Dept. of Physics, Penn State University, University Park PA 16802

  • N. Samarth

    • Dept. of Physics, Penn State University, University Park PA 16802
    • Penn State University
    • Dept. of Physics, The Pennsylvania State University

  • F.M. Mendoza

    • Center for Spintronics and Quantum Computation, University of California, Santa Barbara CA 93106

  • R.C. Myers

    • Center for Spintronics and Quantum Computation, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106
    • Center for Spintronics and Quantum Computation, University of California, Santa Barbara CA 93106

  • David Awschalom

    • UC Santa Barbara
    • Center for Spintronics and Quantum Computation, University of California, Santa Barbara CA 93106
    • Center for Spintronics and Quantum Computation, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106