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Multistability of a coherent spin ensemble in a semiconductor microcavity

Nature Materials volume 9, pages 655–660 (2010)Cite this article

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A Corrigendum to this article was published on 15 December 2010

This article has been updated

Abstract

Coherent manipulation of spin ensembles is a key issue in the development of spintronics. In particular, multivalued spin switching may lead to new schemes of logic gating and memories. This phenomenon has been studied with atom vapours 30 years ago, but is still awaited in the solid state. Here, we demonstrate spin multistability with microcavity polaritons in a trap. Owing to the spinor nature of these light–matter quasiparticles and to the anisotropy of their interactions, we can optically control the spin state of a single confined level by tuning the excitation power, frequency and polarization. First, we realize high-efficiency power-dependent polarization switching. Then, at constant excitation power, we evidence polarization hysteresis and determine the conditions for realizing multivalued spin switching. Finally, we demonstrate an unexpected regime, where our system behaves as a high-contrast spin trigger. These results open new pathways to the development of advanced spintronics devices and to the realization of multivalued logic circuits.

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Figure 1: Polariton lateral confinement.
Figure 2: Spinor bistability and polarization switching.
Figure 3: Multistability.
Figure 4: Tuning the multistability.
Figure 5: Spin multistability.

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Change history

  • 19 November 2010

    In the version of this Article originally published, the x-axis of Figure 1c was incorrectly labelled 'meV' instead of 'μeV'. This error has now been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank D. Sarchi, I. Carusotto, M. Portella-Oberli, T. C. H. Liew and V. Savona for fruitful discussions, and O. El Daïf for his contributions in engineering the sample. The present work was supported by the Swiss National Research Foundation through ‘NCCR Quantum Photonics’.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Quantum Optoelectronics, EPFL, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    T. K. Paraïso, Y. Léger, F. Morier-Genoud & B. Deveaud-Plédran

  2. Institute of Theoretical Physics, EPFL, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    M. Wouters

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  1. T. K. Paraïso
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Contributions

T.K.P. carried out the experiments and data analysis. M.W. developed the theoretical model. M.W. and Y.L. did the simulations. F.M.G. made the sample. B.D.P. supervised the project.

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Correspondence to T. K. Paraïso.

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Paraïso, T., Wouters, M., Léger, Y. et al. Multistability of a coherent spin ensemble in a semiconductor microcavity. Nature Mater 9, 655–660 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2787

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