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A sub-femtojoule electrical spin-switch based on optically trapped polariton condensates.

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

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Authors

Dreismann, Alexander 
Ohadi, Hamid 
Del Valle-Inclan Redondo, Yago 
Balili, Ryan 
Rubo, Yuri G 

Abstract

Practical challenges to extrapolating Moore's law favour alternatives to electrons as information carriers. Two promising candidates are spin-based and all-optical architectures, the former offering lower energy consumption, the latter superior signal transfer down to the level of chip-interconnects. Polaritons-spinor quasi-particles composed of semiconductor excitons and microcavity photons-directly couple exciton spins and photon polarizations, combining the advantages of both approaches. However, their implementation for spintronics has been hindered because polariton spins can be manipulated only optically or by strong magnetic fields. Here we use an external electric field to directly control the spin of a polariton condensate, bias-tuning the emission polarization. The nonlinear spin dynamics offers an alternative route to switching, allowing us to realize an electrical spin-switch exhibiting ultralow switching energies below 0.5 fJ. Our results lay the foundation for development of devices based on the electro-optical control of coherent spin ensembles on a chip.

Description

Keywords

Bose–Einstein condensates, nanophotonics and plasmonics, nonlinear optics, optoelectronic devices and components, quantum information

Journal Title

Nat Mater

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1476-1122
1476-4660

Volume Title

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Sponsorship
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/G060649/1)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/L027151/1)
European Research Council (320503)
European Commission (289968)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Grant ID: EP/L027151/1), European Union INDEX 289968, European Research Council ‘‘POLAFLOW’’ Starting grant, European Research Council LINASS 320503, Spanish MEC (MAT2008-01555), Mexican CONACYT 251808, European Union FP7-REGPOT-2013-1 grant agreement 316165 II, Leverhulme Trust Grant No. VP1-2013-011 and Fundación La Caixa.
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