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Photonic Rashba effect from quantum emitters mediated by a Berry-phase defective photonic crystal

Nature Nanotechnology volume 15, pages 927–933 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Heterostructures combining a thin layer of quantum emitters and planar nanostructures enable custom-tailored photoluminescence in an integrated fashion. Here, we demonstrate a photonic Rashba effect from valley excitons in a WSe2 monolayer, which is incorporated into a photonic crystal slab with geometric phase defects, that is, into a Berry-phase defective photonic crystal. This phenomenon of spin-split dispersion in momentum space arises from a coherent geometric phase pickup assisted by the Berry-phase defect mode. The valley excitons effectively interact with the defects for site-controlled excitation, photoluminescence enhancement and spin-dependent manipulation. Specifically, the spin-dependent branches of photoluminescence in momentum space originate from valley excitons with opposite helicities and evidence the valley separation at room temperature. To further demonstrate the versatility of the Berry-phase defective photonic crystals, we use this concept to separate opposite spin states of quantum dot emission. This spin-enabled manipulation of quantum emitters may enable highly efficient metasurfaces for customized planar sources with spin-polarized directional emission.

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Fig. 1: Illustration of photonic Rashba effect from quantum emitters mediated by a Berry-phase defective photonic crystal.
Fig. 2: Principle of Berry-phase defective PhC.
Fig. 3: Observation of photonic Rashba effect from valley excitons in a WSe2 monolayer.
Fig. 4: Observation of photonic Rashba effect from QDs.

Data availability

The data that support the plots within this paper and other findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge financial support from the Israel Science Foundation (ISF); the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (FA9550-18-1-0208) through their programme on Photonic Metamaterials; the Israel Ministry of Science, Technology and Space; the United States–Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF); and, in part, the Technion via an Aly Kaufman Fellowship. The fabrication was performed at the Micro-Nano Fabrication & Printing Unit (MNF&PU), Technion.

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Kexiu Rong, Bo Wang.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Micro and Nanooptics Laboratory, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel

    Kexiu Rong, Bo Wang, Avi Reuven, Elhanan Maguid, Bar Cohn, Vladimir Kleiner & Erez Hasman

  2. Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel

    Shaul Katznelson & Elad Koren

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  1. Kexiu Rong
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Correspondence to Erez Hasman.

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Supplementary text, Figs. 1–22 and refs. 1–6.

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Rong, K., Wang, B., Reuven, A. et al. Photonic Rashba effect from quantum emitters mediated by a Berry-phase defective photonic crystal. Nat. Nanotechnol. 15, 927–933 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-020-0758-6

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