Fermi Edge Polaritons in a Microcavity Containing a High Density Two-Dimensional Electron Gas

Abstract

Sharp, near band gap lines are observed in the reflection and photoluminescence spectra of GaAs/AlGaAs structures consisting of a modulation doped quantum well (MDQW) that contains a high density two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) and is embedded in a microcavity (MC). The energy dependence of these lines on the MC-confined photon energy shows level anticrossings and Rabi splittings very similar to those observed in systems of undoped QW's embedded in a MC. The spectra are analyzed by calculating the optical susceptibility of the MDQW in the near band gap spectral range and using it within the transfer matrix method. The calculated reflection spectra indicate that the sharp spectral lines are due to k{ parallel}=0 cavity polaritons that are composed of e-h pair excitations just above the 2DEG Fermi edge and are strongly coupled to the MC-confined photons.