Controlling polariton coupling in intersubband microcavities

We report the external control of the intersubband polariton coupling by manipulating the carrier density in quantum wells resonantly coupled to a GaAs/AlGaAs microcavity. The electrons in the wells were tuned by means of a depletion gate Was or by utilizing charge transfer between the energetically aligned ground subbands of asymmetric tunnel-coupled quantum wells. We propose the use of tunnel-assisted control of the polariton ground state in an asymmetrically coupled quantum well for implementing ultrafast modulation of intersubband polaritons. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.