Creating a spin-optical laser using monolayer-integrated spin-valley microcavities without needing magnetic fields or cryogenic temperatures is a breakthrough in atomic-scale spin-optics.
Scientists have created a coherent and controlled spin-optical laser based on a single atomic layer. Coherent spin-dependent interactions between a single atomic layer and a laterally constrained photonic spin-lattice, the latter of which allows high-Q spin-valley states through photonic Rashba-type spin splitting of a bound state in the continuum, make this finding possible. The accomplishment opens new avenues for basic research and optoelectronic devices that utilize electron and photon spins. It also opens the door for investigating coherent spin-dependent events in classical and quantum regimes.
Spin-optical light sources combine photonic modes with electrical transitions to research spin information exchange and create cutting-edge optoelectronic devices. Spin degeneracy must be lifted to build these sources, often via magnetic fields or a geometric phase mechanism. However, earlier studies depended on spin-controllable characteristics in bulk laser gain materials with restricted and low-quality propagation modes.
The recently discovered photonic spin valley Rashba phenomenon offers a broad method for building spin-optical laser sources with surface emission. The monolayer-integrated spin-valley microcavity’s valley coherence has been proven, taking us one step closer to obtaining entanglement between “K” valley excitons for quantum information using qubits.
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