Detail:

Abstract:
　　Polariton condensates consist of coupled and coherent vertical cavity-photon and semiconductor quantum well matter-excitation fields. I will discuss the concept of light-matter transfer in polariton condensates and its relationship to Andreev scattering at superconductor/normal metal interfaces and to spin-transfer in spintronics. Light-matter transfer relies on the dressing of electronic states by coherent photon fields and on the approximate conservation in a polariton condensate of the sum of the number of excitons and the number of cavity photons. Whenever electrons flow between an electrode without coherence and a quantum well, or between regions with different photon-exciton coupling strengths, we predict that excitons are generated or destroyed and transferred to or from the polariton condensate. I will also briefly speculate on the potential utility of this effect as a mechanism for electrical manipulation of polariton condensates.

Biosketch：
　　Prof. Allan H. MacDonald received the B.Sc. degree from St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada in 1973 and the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in physics from the University of Toronto in 1974 and 1978 respectively. He was a member of the research staff of the National Research Council of Canada from 1978 to 1987 and has taught at Indiana University (1987-2000) and the University of Texas at Austin (2000-present) where he now holds the Sid W. Richardson Chair in Physics. He has contributed to research on the quantum Hall effect, electronic structure theory, magnetism, and superconductivity among a variety of other topics. He has published more than 600 scientific papers and has over 32000 citations, with the "H" index of 90. Prof. MacDonald is a fellow of the American Physical Society, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the US National Academy of Sciences, and a recipient of the Herzberg Medal, the Ernst Mach Honorary Medal, and the Buckley Prize.