Inverse-phase Rabi oscillations in semiconductor microcavities

We study experimentally the oscillations of a non stationary transient signal of a semiconductor microcavity with embedded InGaAs quantum wells. The oscillations occur as a result of quantum beats between the upper and lower polariton modes due to the strong exciton-photon coupling in the microcavity sample (Rabi oscillations). The registration of spectrally resolved signal has allowed for separate observation of oscillations at the eigenfrequencies of two polariton modes. Surprisingly, the observed oscillations measured at the lower and upper polariton modes have opposite phases. We demonstrate theoretically that the opposite-phase oscillations are caused by the pump-induced modification of polariton Hopfield coefficients, which govern the ratio of exciton and photon components in each of the polartion modes. Such a behaviour is a fundamental feature of the quantum beats of coupled light-matter states. In contrast, the reference pump-probe experiment performed for the pure excitonic states in a quantum well heterostructure with no microcavity revealed the in-phase oscillations of the pump-probe signals measured at different excitonic levels.