Physical Review X (Sep 2023)

Bose Polaron Interactions in a Cavity-Coupled Monolayer Semiconductor

  • Li Bing Tan,
  • Oriana K. Diessel,
  • Alexander Popert,
  • Richard Schmidt,
  • Atac Imamoglu,
  • Martin Kroner

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.13.031036
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 3
p. 031036

Abstract

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The interaction between a mobile quantum impurity and a bosonic bath leads to the formation of quasiparticles, termed Bose polarons. The elementary properties of Bose polarons, such as their mutual interactions, can differ drastically from those of the bare impurities. Here, we explore Bose polaron physics in a two-dimensional nonequilibrium setting by injecting σ^{-} polarized exciton-polariton impurities into a bath of coherent σ^{+} polarized polaritons generated by resonant laser excitation of monolayer MoSe_{2} embedded in an optical cavity. By exploiting a biexciton Feshbach resonance between the impurity and the bath polaritons, we tune the interacting system to the strong-coupling regime and demonstrate the coexistence of two new quasiparticle branches. Using time-resolved pump-probe measurements, we observe how polaron dressing modifies the interaction between impurity polaritons. Remarkably, we find that the interactions between high-energy polaron quasiparticles, which are repulsive for small bath occupancy, can become attractive in the strong impurity-bath coupling regime. Our experiments provide the first direct measurement of Bose polaron-polaron interaction strength in any physical system and pave the way for exploration and control of many-body correlations in driven-dissipative settings.