Strain-induced exciton decomposition and anisotropic lifetime modulation in a GaAs micromechanical resonator

Abstract

We demonstrate mechanical modulations of the exciton lifetime by using vibrational strain of a gallium arsenide (GaAs) resonator. The strain-induced modulations have anisotropic dependences on the crystal orientation, which reveals the origin of these modulations to be the piezoelectric effect. Numerical analyses based on the tunneling model clarify that the mechanical strain modulates the internal electric field and spatially separates the electrons and holes, leading to non-radiative exciton decomposition. This carrier separation also generates an optomechanical back-action force from the photon to the resonator. Therefore, these results indicate that the mechanical motion can be self-modulated by exciton decays, which enables one to control the thermal noise of the resonators and provides a photon-exciton-phonon interaction in solid-state systems.