2024/04/22 by Biegańska, Dąbrówka, Pieczarka, Maciej, Schneider, Christian +3 · 1 citation
#FOS: Physical sciences #Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2404.14116
Although energy level repulsion is typically observed in interacting quantum systems, non-Hermitian physics predicts the effect of level attraction, which occurs when significant energy dissipation is present. Here, we show a manifestation of dissipative coupling in a high-quality AlGaAs-based polariton microcavity, where two polariton branches attract, resulting in an anomalous, inverted dispersion of the lower branch in momentum dispersion. Using angle-resolved photoluminescence measurements we observe the evolution of the level attraction with exciton-photon detuning, leading to changes in anomalous dispersion shape within a single sample. The dissipative coupling is explained by the interaction with an indirect exciton, acting as a highly dissipative channel in our system, and the observed dispersions are well captured within a phenomenological model. Our results present a new mechanism of dissipative coupling in light-matter systems and offer a tunable and well-controlled AlGaAs-based platform for engineering the non-Hermitian and negative mass effects in polariton systems.