Control of Exciton Fluxes in an Excitonic Integrated Circuit
Alex A. High,1
Ekaterina E. Novitskaya,1
Leonid V. Butov,1*
Micah Hanson,2
Arthur C. Gossard2
Efficient signal communication uses photons. Signal processing,
however, uses an optically inactive medium, electrons. Therefore,
an interconnection between electronic signal processing and
optical communication is required at the integrated circuit
level. We demonstrated control of exciton fluxes in an excitonic
integrated circuit. The circuit consists of three exciton optoelectronic
transistors and performs operations with exciton fluxes, such
as directional switching and merging. Photons transform into
excitons at the circuit input, and the excitons transform into
photons at the circuit output. The exciton flux from the input
to the output is controlled by a pattern of the electrode voltages.
The direct coupling of photons, used in communication, to excitons,
used as the device-operation medium, may lead to the development
of efficient exciton-based optoelectronic devices.
2 Department of Materials, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106–5050, USA.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: lvbutov{at}physics.ucsd.edu
