Semiconductor micro cavities: half light, half matter

Quantum wells sandwiched tightly between two mirrors can be used to make a new type of laser that can amplify light more than any other known material. What do you get if you cross light with matter? It is a question that fascinates today's researchers in quantum optoelectronics, who want to see how far the physical states of the world can be intertwined. Although we have a good understanding of the quantum ingredients of optics and solids - photons and atoms - it turns out that assembling these building blocks in deliberately unfamiliar ways can lead to what is new and often quite unexpected behaviour. Consider 'quantum wells', which form the basis of modern semiconductor lasers. First developed in the 1980s, they lie at the heart of optical-communication and optical-storage technologies such as DVD players and they now have a global market of over 10bn British Pounds. Quantum wells consist of a thin sheet of crystalline semiconductor sandwiched between two sheets of another semiconductor. The outer layers squash the wavefunctions of electrons within the central sheet, increasing the electrons' energy and their interaction with light. Engineers can control the colour of the light emitted by the laser simply by adjusting the energy levels within the central sheet, which acts as a potential well. But this bug-sized playground for electrons has not just had technological ramifications. It has also spawned an enormous variety of new physics, including the quantum Hall effect, which can be used as a fundamental standard for measuring the ratio between the charge on the electron and the Planck constant. Over the last ten years researchers have also become increasingly keen to incorporate quantum wells into what are known as 'semiconductor micro cavities'. Physicists have found that these painstakingly layered materials can be used to create new quantum states that resemble superfluids and can be used in interferometric quantum devices. In the March issue of Physics World, Jeremy J Baumberg of the University of Southampton, UK, explains how semiconductor micro cavities could one day even be used as a new type of ultra-efficient light emitter for optoelectronic interconnects or quantum processors. (U.K.)