Hysteretic behavior of the photon emission by microcavity exciton-polaritons (MPs), optical bistability, provides the foundation for photonic memories, switches, and optical logic. Here, we demonstrate the control of bistable transitions in MPs confined in μm-sized intracavity traps by electrically generated single acoustic pulses. The studies were performed in arrays of confined MPs placed in an acoustic resonator and optically pumped in resonance below the condensation threshold. A short (μs-long) strain pulse applied to the MPs triggers the bistable transition from the subthreshold, low emission initial state to an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) condensate with high optical emission. Time-resolved studies reveal that the transition occurs during the buildup of the acoustic field in the resonator via a strain-induced reduction of the threshold for the OPO excitation. The MPs then remain in the final state for as long as the optical pump is supplied, demonstrating the bistability as well as memory retention. The robustness of the triggering approach is shown by the synchronous switching of arrays of confined MPs by a single acoustic pulse, thus, establishing the applicability of the concept for scalable on-chip optical memories in emerging applications such as classical and quantum polariton simulators.

中文翻译：

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声触发光学存储器

微腔激子-极化子（MPs）发出的光子的滞后行为，光学双稳性为光子存储器，开关和光学逻辑提供了基础。在这里，我们演示了通过电产生的单个声脉冲来控制局限在μm大小的腔内陷阱中的MP中的双稳态转变。研究是在密闭的MP阵列中进行的，这些MP放置在声共振器中，并在低于凝结阈值的情况下以共振方式被光学泵浦。施加到MP上的短（μs长）应变脉冲触发从亚阈值低发射初始状态到具有高光发射的光学参量振荡器（OPO）冷凝物的双稳态转变。时间分辨研究表明，这种转变是通过应变引起的OPO激励阈值降低而在谐振器中的声场建立期间发生的。然后，只要提供了光泵，MP就会一直处于最终状态，这表明了双稳态性和存储能力。触发方法的鲁棒性通过单个声脉冲对受限MP阵列的同步切换来显示，从而确立了该概念在新兴应用（例如经典和量子极化模拟器）中可扩展片上光学存储器的适用性。