SCORPION SIGNED

Project "SCORPION" data sheet

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 Partnership

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 Project objective

Polaritons, part-light part-matter quasi-particles, are formed when photons in a cavity couple strongly to excitons in semiconductors. Polaritons are interacting bosons which can undergo phase transitions driven by light. The hybrid nature of polaritons suggests that both light and matter become strongly correlated near the transition point. Correlated states of light in cavity arrays have been intensely investigated theoretically for over 12 years, but experimental progress has been limited by challenges in the integration of highly nonlinear materials with cavity arrays. Similarly, correlated states of matter (e.g. superconductivity) emerging near polaritonic phase transitions have generated strong theoretical interest in recent years, but their experimental observation has remained elusive. In this project, we will realize strongly correlated light-matter systems in order to solve optimization problems and induce superconductivity with light. We will achieve these goals using a single experimental platform comprising tunable cavities where semiconductors can be easily inserted and light-matter coupling can be tuned in-situ. In work package 1, we will measure photon correlations in multicavity systems simulating Ising models. We will use these Ising simulators to solve non-deterministic polynomial time (NP)-hard optimization problems, e.g. finding the ground state energy of a 2D Ising model. In work package 2, we will couple a polariton condensate to a two-dimensional electron system (2DES). We will optically drive this system across the polariton condensation threshold, and search for signatures of superconductivity in differential conductance measurements of the 2DES. We anticipate the results of both work packages to open a new frontier of condensed matter physics dealing with simultaneously correlated light and matter. Moreover, completely new types of optoelectronic devices controlled by light are likely to emerge.