Dark high density dipolar liquid of excitons

Kobi Cohen, Yehiel Shilo, Ken West, Loren Pfeiffer, Ronen Rapaport

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

37 Scopus citations

Abstract

The possible phases and the nanoscale particle correlations of two-dimensional interacting dipolar particles is a long-sought problem in many-body physics. Here we observe a spontaneous condensation of trapped two-dimensional dipolar excitons with internal spin degrees of freedom from an interacting gas into a high density, closely packed liquid state made mostly of dark dipoles. Another phase transition, into a bright, highly repulsive plasma, is observed at even higher excitation powers. The dark liquid state is formed below a critical temperature Tc ≈ 4.8 K, and it is manifested by a clear spontaneous spatial condensation to a smaller and denser cloud, suggesting an attractive part to the interaction which goes beyond the purely repulsive dipole-dipole forces. Contributions from quantum mechanical fluctuations are expected to be significant in this strongly correlated, long living dark liquid. This is a new example of a two-dimensional atomic-like interacting dipolar liquid, but where the coupling of light to its internal spin degrees of freedom plays a crucial role in the dynamical formation and the nature of resulting condensed dark ground state.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)3726-3731
Number of pages6
JournalNano Letters
Volume16
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 8 2016
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Bioengineering
  • General Chemistry
  • General Materials Science
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Mechanical Engineering

Keywords

  • cold dipolar gas
  • dark excitons
  • dipolar excitons
  • exciton condensation
  • Indirect excitons
  • quantum fluids

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