Condensation of excitons in a trap.

Condensation is observed in a gas of indirect excitons confined in an electrostatic trap. Imaging and interferometric measurements detect that excitons condense at the trap bottom and exciton spontaneous coherence emerges with lowering temperature. Below a temperature of about 1 K, the direct signature of Bose-Einstein condensation, the extension of coherence over the entire cloud, is observed.

Electrostatic conveyer for excitons.

We report on the study of indirect excitons in moving lattices-conveyers created by a set of ac voltages applied to the electrodes on the sample surface. The wavelength of this moving lattice is set by the electrode periodicity, the amplitude is controlled by the applied voltage, and the velocity is controlled by the ac frequency. We found the dynamical localization-delocalization transition for excitons in the conveyers and determined its dependence on exciton density and conveyer amplitude and velocity.

All-optical excitonic transistor.

We demonstrate experimental proof of principle for all-optical excitonic transistors where light controls light by using excitons as an intermediate medium. The principle of operation of all-optical excitonic transistors is based on the control of exciton fluxes by light.

Trapping indirect excitons in a GaAs quantum-well structure with a diamond-shaped electrostatic trap.

We report on the principle and realization of a new trap for excitons--the diamond electrostatic trap--which uses a single electrode to create a confining potential for excitons. We also create elevated diamond traps which permit evaporative cooling of the exciton gas. We observe the collection of excitons towards the trap center with increasing exciton density. This effect is due to screening of disorder in the trap by the excitons. As a result, the diamond trap behaves as a smooth parabolic potential which realizes a cold and dense exciton gas at the trap center.

Localization-delocalization transition of indirect excitons in lateral electrostatic lattices.

We study transport of indirect excitons in GaAs/AlGaAs coupled quantum wells in linear lattices created by laterally modulated gate voltage. The localization-delocalization transition for transport across the lattice was observed with reducing lattice amplitude or increasing exciton density. The exciton interaction energy at the transition is close to the lattice amplitude. These results are consistent with the model, which attributes the localization-delocalization transition to the interaction-induced percolation of the exciton gas through the external potential. We also discuss applications of the lattice potentials for estimating the strength of disorder and exciton interaction.