# Quantum vacuum properties of the intersubband cavity polariton field

Abstract : We present a quantum description of a planar microcavity photon mode strongly coupled to a semiconductor intersubband transition in presence of a two-dimensional electron gas. We show that, in this kind of system, the vacuum Rabi frequency $\Omega_R$ can be a significant fraction of the intersubband transition frequency $\omega_{12}$. This regime of ultra-strong light-matter coupling is enhanced for long wavelength transitions, because for a given doping density, effective mass and number of quantum wells, the ratio $\Omega_R/\omega_{12}$ increases as the square root of the intersubband emission wavelength. We characterize the quantum properties of the ground state (a two-mode squeezed vacuum), which can be tuned {\it in-situ} by changing the value of $\Omega_R$, e.g., through an electrostatic gate. We finally point out how the tunability of the polariton quantum vacuum can be exploited to generate correlated photon pairs out of the vacuum via quantum electrodynamics phenomena reminiscent of the dynamic Casimir effect.
Document type :
Journal articles

Cited literature [21 references]

https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00004617
Contributor : Cristiano Ciuti <>
Submitted on : Friday, July 8, 2005 - 2:06:16 PM
Last modification on : Tuesday, September 22, 2020 - 3:59:30 AM
Long-term archiving on: : Friday, September 17, 2010 - 6:42:44 PM

### Citation

Cristiano Ciuti, Gérald Bastard, Iacopo Carusotto. Quantum vacuum properties of the intersubband cavity polariton field. Physical Review B: Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, American Physical Society, 2005, 72, pp.115303. ⟨hal-00004617v2⟩

Record views