Spatial observation and optical manipulation of polariton quantum liquids are raising a large interest in the studies of polariton condensates in microcavities [1]. In this work, we report the study of polariton condensates in a semi-hybrid ZnO microcavity where the condensation of polaritons up to room temperature has been achieved. This cavity is based on high quality AlN/AlGaN DBRs on 200µm ∗ 200µm mesas. The obtention of a low condensation threshold in a microcavity is related to its local quality factor Q. However the generation of the condensate also strongly depends on the photonic disorderof the cavity i.e. on polariton localization. The purpose of this work is to demonstrate the influence of this last parameter using different large excitation shapes. Figure 1.a shows a cross sectional energy mapping below threshold of polaritons at negative detuning. It is done by scanning the sample with a focused CW excitation spot. The energy fluctuation is less than 4 meV and the local quality factor is above 1900. We then excite the sample with large excitation areas. The photoluminescence profile created by an elongated excitation (60µm ∗ 5µm) is shown on figure 1.b. The intensity profile indicates that the polariton condensate is not uniform. In fact we can clearly see the localization of polaritons on sitesthat can be separated by more than 10 µm . We assume that this effect is related to the photonic disorder. The impact of size and shape of the excitation area on the condensate intensity profile will be discussed.

We create polariton clouds and polariton condensates to characterize their propagation at different temperatures. Our experimental results show that in a thickness gradient microcavity, polariton propagation is mainly ballistic and does not depend on the microcavity gradient. Above threshold, we compare the experimental results to a theoretical model [1] to understand the peculiar k-space images of the polariton condensate. Our results indicate that these images are due to the repulsion of the condensate from the center of excitation by the exciton reservoir created by a small excitation spot (2~3 µm).

A platform for fabricating polariton lasers operating at room temperature is introduced: nitride-based distributed Bragg reflectors epitaxially grown on patterned silicon substrates. The patterning allows for an enhanced strain relaxation, thereby enabling to stack a large number of crack-free AlN/AlGaN pairs and achieve cavity quality factors of several thousands with a large spatial homogeneity. GaN and ZnO active regions are epitaxially grown thereon, and the cavities are completed with top dielectric Bragg reflectors. The two structures display strong-coupling and polariton lasing at room temperature and constitute an intermediate step in the way towardsintegrated polariton devices.

We demonstrate a two-dimensional free-standing gallium nitride photonic crystal platform operating around 1550 nm and fabricated on a silicon substrate. Width-modulated waveguide cavities are integrated and exhibit loaded quality factors up to 34 000 at 1575 nm. We show the resonance tunability by varying the ratio of air hole radius to periodicity, and cavity hole displacement. We deduce a 7.9 dB/cm linear absorption loss for the suspended nitride structure from the power dependence of the cavity in-plane transmission.

GaAsO4 crystals were grown by a hydrothermal epitaxial process. Micro crystalline GaAsO4 powder was first synthesized by hydrothermal methods by using GaAs as a starting material in a sulfuric acid solvent under oxidizing conditions. Experimental conditions were optimized and the yield of the nutrient synthesis reached 88%. GaAsO4 powder was then used as the nutrient for growing GaAsO4 single crystals by epitaxy on (2(1) over bar 0) oriented GaPO4, AlPO4 and GaAsO4 plates. Crystal growth was performed in a horizontal PTFE-lined autoclave divided into two parts using sulfuric acid as the solvent under a slow heating gradient. Hydrothermal conditions were optimized in order to improve the crystal quality. The influence of the nature and orientation of the seeds on the growth rate was studied. From the solubility curve, the solute supply Delta S as a function of temperature during the growth process was calculated. Transparent crystals were obtained with Delta S between 0.002 and 0.009 mol/L. Large crystals (3.9 Chi 1.8 Chi 1.4 cm(3)) of gallium arsenate were obtained. These crystals were cut into (2(1) over bar 0), (010) and (001) plates. Mapping using Raman spectroscopy was performed in order to study the growth recovery on the seed. GaAsO4 crystals were characterized by infrared spectroscopy in order to quantify the amount of OH groups in the crystal structure. A low value of the absorption coefficient a at 3300 cm(-1) was measured 0.067 cm(-1) indicating a good crystal quality. Optical measurements were performed on GaAsO4 crystals by UV-vis-NIR spectrophotometry. Gallium arsenate exhibits the highest value of birefringence in the alpha-quartz group with Delta n =0.033. The transmission in the spectral region above 250 nm yields a bandgap of 5.85 eV. Piezoelectric properties were measured on resonators. An electromechanical coupling coefficient of 20% was measured which is the highest in the alpha-quartz group. A quality factor QF of 3.2 Chi 10(10) was obtained on a Y-cut plate. The C-66 elastic constant was found to be 20 GPa.

Properties of self-assembled quantum dots (QDs), often referred to as artificial atoms in solid state, are very interesting in order to study physical effects specific to single quantum systems such as the single-photon emission. Thanks to their huge vertical quantum confinement, GaN QDs are emitting even at room temperature and on a large UV range. This peculiarity makes GaN QDs good candidates for fundamental physics as well as conception of devices such as UV-LEDs. In so-called thick QDs (height larger than 2.3 nm), the energies of the confined electronic states are determined by the quantum confined Stark effect. On the contrary, in thin QDs (height smaller than 2.3 nm) the quantum confinement plays the major role, thus leading to a significantly smaller homogeneous linewidth and to the resolution of the exciton fine-structure splitting [Kindel, PRB81, 241309]. As far as time-resolved measurements are concerned, several papers reported experiments in thick QDs emitting at 350nm or more, either in polar [Bretagnon, PRB73, 113304] or non-polar nanostructures [Founta, APL86, 171901]. We report photoluminescence decay time measurements in thin GaN QDs emitting between 280nm and 360nm. For QDs emitting at 290nm we observe a monoexponential decay and the abscence of any red shift for the luminescence spectrum shows that we are in the regime of a single electronhole pair per dot. In this case, we measure the intrinsic radiative recombination time, without any perturbation due to the Stark effect. We find a radiative lifetime of about 350 ps in good agreement with our theoritical model.