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Up on the Jaynes–Cummings ladder of a quantum-dot/microcavity system

Nature Materials volume 9, pages 304–308 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

In spite of their different natures, light and matter can be unified under the strong-coupling regime, yielding superpositions of the two, referred to as dressed states or polaritons. After initially being demonstrated in bulk semiconductors1 and atomic systems2, strong-coupling phenomena have been recently realized in solid-state optical microcavities3. Strong coupling is an essential ingredient in the physics spanning from many-body quantum coherence phenomena, such as Bose–Einstein condensation4 and superfluidity5, to cavity quantum electrodynamics. Within cavity quantum electrodynamics, the Jaynes–Cummings model6,7,8 describes the interaction of a single fermionic two-level system with a single bosonic photon mode. For a photon number larger than one, known as quantum strong coupling, a significant anharmonicity is predicted for the ladder-like spectrum of dressed states. For optical transitions in semiconductor nanostructures, first signatures of the quantum strong coupling were recently reported9. Here we use advanced coherent nonlinear spectroscopy to explore a strongly coupled exciton–cavity system10,11. We measure and simulate its four-wave mixing response12,13, granting direct access to the coherent dynamics of the first and second rungs of the Jaynes–Cummings ladder. The agreement of the rich experimental evidence with the predictions of the Jaynes–Cummings model is proof of the quantum strong-coupling regime in the investigated solid-state system.

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Figure 1: Sketch of the investigated micropillar cavity and PL characterization of the strong-coupling regime.
Figure 2: Transitions in the Jaynes–Cummings ladder probed by FWM.
Figure 3: Spectrally and time-resolved FWM as a function of cavity-exciton detuning.
Figure 4: FWM delay dependence showing the individual dynamics of first and second rungs.

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Acknowledgements

J.K. and W.L. acknowledge support by the European Commission under the FP7-PEOPLE-2007-2-1-IEF ‘CUSMEQ’ contract No 219762. E.A.M. acknowledges support of WIMCS and RFBR. S.R., C.K., C.S., M.S., S.H. and A.F. acknowledge support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft through the research group ‘Quantum Optics in Semiconductor Nanostructures’ and the State of Bavaria.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, The Parade, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UK

    J. Kasprzak, E. A. Muljarov & W. Langbein

  2. Technische Physik, Physikalisches Institut, Universität Würzburg and Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen Research Center for Complex Material Systems, Am Hubland, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany

    S. Reitzenstein, C. Kistner, C. Schneider, M. Strauss, S. Höfling & A. Forchel

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  1. J. Kasprzak
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Contributions

Experiments were designed by W.L. and carried out by J.K., W.L. and S.R. Data were analysed and interpreted by J.K., W.L. and E.A.M. The theory was developed by E.A.M. and W.L. The manuscript was written by J.K., W.L., E.A.M., S.R. and S.H. The sample was grown and processed by S.R., C.K., C.S., M.S., S.H. and A.F.

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Correspondence to J. Kasprzak or W. Langbein.

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Kasprzak, J., Reitzenstein, S., Muljarov, E. et al. Up on the Jaynes–Cummings ladder of a quantum-dot/microcavity system. Nature Mater 9, 304–308 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2717

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