Operation speed of polariton condensate switches gated by excitons

Abstract: We present a time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) study in real- and momentum-space of a polariton condensate switch in a quasi-1D semiconductor microcavity. The polariton flow across the ridge is gated by excitons inducing a barrier potential due to repulsive interactions. A study of the device operation dependence on the power of the pulsed gate beam obtains a satisfactory compromise for the ON/OFF-signal ratio and -switching time of the order of 0.3 and $\thicksim50$ ps, respectively. The opposite transition is governed by the long-lived gate excitons, consequently the OFF/ON-switching time is $\thicksim200$ ps, limiting the overall operation speed of the device to $\thicksim3$ GHz. The experimental results are compared to numerical simulations based on a generalized Gross-Pitaevskii equation, taking into account incoherent pumping, decay and energy relaxation within the condensate.