Microcavity polaritons for topological photonics

Understand

Microcavity polaritons are light-matter quasiparticles that arise from the strong coupling between excitons and photons confined in a semiconductor microcavity.

• They typically operate at visible or near visible wavelengths.
• They combine the properties of confined electromagnetic fields, including a sizeable spin-orbit coupling, and the sensitivity to external magnetic fields and particle interactions inherited from their partly matter nature.
• These features make polaritons an excellent platform to study topological phases in photonics in one and two dimensional lattices, which band properties can be directly accessed using standard optical tools.