title: Spin rings in bistable planar semiconductor microcavities.
abstract: A remarkable feature of exciton-polaritons is the strongly spin-dependent polariton-polariton interaction, which has been predicted to result in the formation of spin rings in real space [Shelykh, Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 116401 (2008)]. Here we experimentally demonstrate the spin bistability of exciton polaritons in an InGaAs-based semiconductor microcavity under resonant optical pumping. We observe the formation of spin rings whose size can be finely controlled in a spatial scale down to the micrometer range, much smaller than the spot size. Demonstration of optically controlled spin patterns in semiconductors opens way to the realization of spin logic devices and spin memories.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris 6, École Normale Supérieure et CNRS, UPMC Case 74, 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Adrados
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Amo
authors.forename: T C H
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Liew
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hivet
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Houdré
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Giacobino
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Kavokin
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bramati