Acoustically tunable photonic structures based on microcavity polaritons

Abstract The interaction between surface acoustic waves (SAWs) with (Al,Ga)As microcavity polaritons results in the formation of a dynamic optical superlattice with folded light dispersion and energy stop bands when the lower polariton branch is predominantly of photonic character. For small detunings between the excitonic and optical cavity resonances, the SAW bleaches the polariton resonances through the efficient dissociation of the excitons by its piezoelectric field.