<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexey Kavokin</span>
Fabrice P. Laussy's Web

Alexey Kavokin

Alexey Kavokin is a Russian (also holding French citizenship) theoretical physicist, with a sui generis approach and understanding of the field.

When Vladimir Agranovich was made Dr. Honoris Causa of the Université Blaise Pascal, some time in 2003, Alexey gave one of his most beautiful speeches. He opened it by stating that the interaction of light and matter is one of oldest topics to have perplexed the curiosity of man. He observed that already in the Bible, and from its very opening, the account of creation starts with God making matter on the one hand and light on the other. All that follows results from their continuous interaction. In this way, he had introduced the polariton. He is a major expert in the physics of polaritons, where he has pioneered concepts such as the optical spin Hall effect, bosonic cascades, polariton-mediated superconductivity and polariton qubits. He played a key role in the development of polariton condensation and in the theory of polariton spin. He is also a highly skilled diplomat, great leader of teams of arbitrary sizes, scientific events organizer, book writer, amateur of French gastronomy and wine, erudite in several branches of the humanities, free-thinking intellectual with far-reaching views and you might get lucky to hear him sing original guitar songs where you can even pop up as a character. The list does not end there.

Alexey was my Ph. D director. He is the most remarkable person that I have ever met. I have always tried to keep a link to some of his countless activities, since this is the closest one can get to trade one's life with that of a character from a novel. He is one of Elena & I's life-changing characters, for both the amount but also magnitudes of changes he brought to our destiny. I regard one of my major insights in life as having turned to him when seeking a Ph. D director, although trained as a corpuscular physics and with little a priori interest for Alexey's condensed matter topic. There was something obvious to me, however, that he was a glowing gem cast in a basically inert rock (that was the Université Blaise Pascal). He is infinitely surprising by the definition that, however high you set the expectation, he'll eventually come to surprise you.

Joint works

In addition to our monumental Microcavities, I have several works in collaboration with him:

  1. Polariton laser and polariton superfluidity in microcavities. A. Kavokin, G. Malpuech and F. P. Laussy in Phys. Lett. A 306:187 (2003).
  2. Dissipative quantum theory of polariton lasers. F. P. Laussy, Y. G. Rubo, G. Malpuech, A. Kavokin and P. Bigenwald in Phys. Stat. Sol. C 0:1476 (2003).
  3. Polariton Bose condensation in microcavities. G. Malpuech, A. Kavokin and F. P. Laussy in Phys. Stat. Sol. A 195:568 (2003).
  4. Dynamical Theory of Polariton Amplifiers. Yu. G. Rubo, F. P. Laussy, G. Malpuech, A. Kavokin and P. Bigenwald in Phys. Rev. Lett. 91:156403 (2003).
  5. Polarization beats in emission from polariton lasers. I. A. Shelykh, A. V. Kavokin, G. Malpuech, P. Bigenwald and F. Laussy in Phys. Rev. B 68:085311 (2003).
  6. Polariton laser: thermodynamics and quantum kinetic theory. G. Malpuech, Y. G. Rubo, F. P. Laussy, P. Bigenwald and A. V. Kavokin in Semicond. Sci. Technol. 18:S395 (2003).
  7. Spontaneous coherence buildup in a polariton laser. F. P. Laussy, G. Malpuech and A. Kavokin in Phys. Stat. Sol. C 1:1339 (2004).
  8. Stimulated emission due to light localization in the bandgap of disordered opals. S. G. Romanov, M. A. Kaliteevski, M. C. Torres, J. Martinez, D. Cassagne, J.P. Albert, A.V. Kavokin, F. Laussy, V.V. Nikolaev, S. Brand, R.A. Abram, N. Gaponik, A. Eychmueller and A. Rogach in Phys. Stat. Sol. C 1:1522 (2004).
  9. Coherence dynamics in microcavities and polariton lasers. F. P. Laussy, G. Malpuech, A. V. Kavokin and P. Bigenwald in J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 16:S3665 (2004).
  10. Spontaneous Coherence Buildup in a Polariton Laser. F. P. Laussy, G. Malpuech, A. Kavokin and P. Bigenwald in Phys. Rev. Lett. 93:016402 (2004).
  11. Spontaneous coherence buildup in polariton lasers. F. P. Laussy, G. Malpuech, A. Kavokin and P. Bigenwald in Solid State Commun. 134:121 (2005).
  12. Multiplets in the optical emission spectra of large quantum dots in microcavities. F. P. Laussy, A. Kavokin and G. Malpuech in Solid State Commun. 135:659 (2005).
  13. Multiplets in the Optical Emission Spectra of Dicke States of Quantum Dots Excitons coupled to Microcavity Photons. F. P. Laussy, M. M. Glazov, A. V. Kavokin and G. Malpuech in Phys. Stat. Sol. C 2:3819 (2005).
  14. Effects of Bose-Einstein condensation of exciton polaritons in microcavities on the polarization of emitted light. F. P. Laussy, I. A. Shelykh, G. Malpuech and A. Kavokin in Phys. Rev. B 73:035315 (2006).
  15. Statistics of excitons in quantum dots and their effect on the optical emission spectra of microcavities. F. P. Laussy, M. M. Glazov, A. Kavokin, D. M. Whittaker and G. Malpuech in Phys. Rev. B 73:115343 (2006).
  16. Single quantum dots in microcavities. F. P. Laussy, M. M. Glazov, A. V. Kavokin and G. Malpuech in Proc. SPIE 6328:63280S (2006).
  17. Control of polarization of polariton lasers. M.M. Glazov, I. A. Shelykh, G. Malpuech, F. Laussy, K. V. Kavokin and A. V. Kavokin in Phys. Stat. Sol. C 4:638 (2007).
  18. PLMCN7 in Cuba: Polariton era begins?. F.P. Laussy and A. V. Kavokin in Superlatt. Microstruct. 43:383 (2008).
  19. Exciton-Polariton Mediated Superconductivity. F. P. Laussy, A. V. Kavokin and I. A. Shelykh in Phys. Rev. Lett. 104:106402 (2010).
  20. Superconductivity with excitons and polaritons: review and extension. F. P. Laussy, T. Taylor, I. A. Shelykh and A. V. Kavokin in J. Nanophoton. 6:064502 (2012).
  21. Polarization shaping of Poincaré beams by polariton oscillations. D. Colas, L. Dominici, S. Donati, A. A Pervishko, T.C.H. Liew, I. A. Shelykh, D. Ballarini, M. de Giorgi, A. Bramati, G. Gigli, E. del Valle, F. P Laussy, A. V. Kavokin and D. Sanvitto in Light: Sci. \& App. 4:e350 (2015).
  22. Real-space collapse of a polariton condensate. L. Dominici, M. Petrov, M. Matuszewski, D. Ballarini, M. De Giorgi, D. Colas, E. Cancellieri, B. Silva Fernández, A. Bramati, G. Gigli, A. Kavokin, F. Laussy and D. Sanvitto in Nature Comm. 6:8993 (2015).
  23. Quantum statistics of bosonic cascades. T. C. H. Liew, Y. G. Rubo, A. S. Sheremet, S. De Liberato, I. A. Shelykh, F. P. Laussy and A. V. Kavokin in New J. Phys. 18:023041 (2016).
  24. Excitons in crystals. F. P. Laussy and A. Kavokin in Encycl. Cond. Mat. Phys. 3:706 (2024). 

Not with me

The bulk of Alexey's very productive activity is, of course, without me. Notable works and interesting insights include:

  1. Polariton Motional Narrowing in Semiconductor Multiple Quantum Wells. J. J. Baumberg, A. P. Heberle, A. V. Kavokin, M. R. Vladimirova and K. Köhler in Phys. Rev. Lett. [ 80:3567] (1998).
  2. Spontaneous Polarization Buildup in a Room-Temperature Polariton Laser. J. J. Baumberg, A. V. Kavokin, S. Christopoulos, A. J. D. Grundy, R. Butté, G. Christmann, D. D. Solnyshkov, G. Malpuech, G. Baldassarri Höger von Högersthal, E. Feltin, J.-F. Carlin and N. Grandjean in Phys. Rev. Lett. 101:136409 (2008).
  3. Room-temperature polariton lasers based on GaN microcavities. G. Malpuech, A. Di Carlo, A. Kavokin, J. J. Baumberg, M. Zamfirescu and P. Lugli in Appl. Phys. Lett. 81:412 (2002).
  4. Giant exciton-light coupling in ZnO quantum dots. B. Gil and A. V. Kavokin in Appl. Phys. Lett. 81:748 (2002).
  5. Quantum Theory of Spin Dynamics of Exciton-Polaritons in Microcavities. K. V. Kavokin, I. A. Shelykh, A. V. Kavokin, G. Malpuech and P. Bigenwald in Phys. Rev. Lett. 92:017401 (2004).
  6. Optical Spin Hall Effect. A. Kavokin, G. Malpuech and M. Glazov in Phys. Rev. Lett. 95:136601 (2005).
  7. Light mediated superconducting transistor. A. V. Kavokin, I. A. Shelykh and M. M. Glazov in Phys. Stat. Sol. C 2:914 (2005).
  8. Polarization and Propagation of Polariton Condensates. I. A. Shelykh, Yuri G. Rubo, G. Malpuech, D. D. Solnyshkov and A. Kavokin in Phys. Rev. Lett. 97:066402 (2006).
  9. Quatron-polaritons: charged quasi-particles having the bosonic statistics. A. Kavokin, D. Solnyshkov and G. Malpuech in J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 19:295212 (2007).
  10. Observation of the optical spin Hall effect. C. Leyder, M. Romanelli, J. Ph. Karr, E. Giacobino, T. C. H. Liew, M. M. Glazov, A. V. Kavokin, G. Malpuech and A. Bramati in Nature Phys. 3:628 (2007).
  11. Optical Circuits Based on Polariton Neurons in Semiconductor Microcavities. T. C. H. Liew, A. V. Kavokin and I. A. Shelykh in Phys. Rev. Lett. 101:016402 (2008).
  12. Generation and Dynamics of Vortex Lattices in Coherent Exciton-Polariton Fields. T. C. H. Liew, Yu. G. Rubo and A. V. Kavokin in Phys. Rev. Lett. 101:187401 (2008).
  13. Tamm-plasmon polaritons: Slow and spatially compact light. M. E. Sasin, R. P. Seisyan, M. A. Kalitteevski, S. Brand, R. A. Abram, J. M. Chamberlain, A. Yu. Egorov, A. P. Vasil'ev, V. S. Mikhrin and A. V. Kavokin in Appl. Phys. Lett. 92:251112 (2008).
  14. Optical switching: Polariton diode microcavities. A. Kavokin in Nature Photon. 3:135 (2009).
  15. Observation of Half-Quantum Vortices in an Exciton-Polariton Condensate. K. G. Lagoudakis, T. Ostatnický, A. V. Kavokin, Y. G. Rubo, R. André and B. Deveaud-Plédran in Science 326:974 (2009).
  16. Exciton-polariton spin switches. A. Amo, T. C. H. Liew, C. Adrados, R. Houdré, E. Giacobino, A. V. Kavokin and A. Bramati in Nature Photon. 4:361 (2010).
  17. Spontaneous formation and optical manipulation of extended polariton condensates. E. Wertz, L. Ferrier, D. D. Solnyshkov, R. Johne, D. Sanvitto, A. Lemaître, I. Sagnes, R. Grousson, A. V. Kavokin, P. Senellart and G. Malpuech an J. Bloch in Nature Phys. 6:860 (2010).
  18. THz lasing in a polariton system: Quantum theory. E. del Valle and A. Kavokin in Phys. Rev. B 83:193303 (2011).
  19. Spontaneous coherence in a cold exciton gas. A. A. High, J. R. Leonard, A. T. Hammack, M. M. Fogler, L. V. Butov, A. V. Kavokin, K. L. Campman and A. C. Gossard in Nature 483:584 (2012).
  20. Exciton Supersolidity in Hybrid Bose-Fermi Systems. M. Matuszewski, T. Taylor and A. Kavokin in Phys. Rev. Lett. 108:060401 (2012).
  21. The behaviour of exciton-polaritons. L.V. Butov and A.V. Kavokin in Nature Photon. 6:2 (2012).
  22. Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Terahertz Laser. A. V. Kavokin, I. A. Shelykh, T. Taylor and M. M. Glazov in Phys. Rev. Lett. 108:197401 (2012).
  23. The rise of the bosonic laser. A. Kavokin in Nature Photon. 7:591 (2013).
  24. Proposal for a Bosonic Cascade Laser. T. C. H. Liew, M. M. Glazov, K. V. Kavokin, I. A. Shelykh, M. A. Kaliteevski and A. V. Kavokin in Phys. Rev. Lett. 110:047402 (2013).
  25. Exciton-polariton oscillations in real space. T.C.H. Liew, Y.G. Rubo and A.V. Kavokin in Phys. Rev. A 90:245309 (2014).
  26. Superradiant Terahertz Emission by Dipolaritons. O. Kyriienko, A. V. Kavokin and I. A. Shelykh in Phys. Rev. Lett. 111:176401 (2013).
  27. A historic experiment redesigned. S. Höfling and A. Kavokin in Nature 514:313 (2014).
  28. Qubits Based on Polariton Rabi Oscillators. S. S. Demirchyan, I. Yu. Chestnov, A. P. Alodjants, M. M. Glazov and A. V. Kavokin in Phys. Rev. Lett. 112:196403 (2014).
  29. Weak lasing in one-dimensional polariton superlattices.. L. Zhang, W. Xie, J. Wang, A. Poddubny, J. Lu, Y. Wang, J. Gu, W. Liu, D. Xu, X. Shen, Y. Rubo, B. Altshuler, A. V. Kavokin and Z. Chen in Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 112:E1516 (2015).
  30. Hyperbolic Metamaterials with Bragg Polaritons. E. S. Sedov, I. V. Iorsh, S. M. Arakelian, A. P. Alodjants and A. Kavokin in Phys. Rev. Lett. 114:237402 (2015).
  31. Superconductivity in semiconductor structures: The excitonic mechanism. E.D. Cherotchenko, Espinosa-Ortega, A.V.Nalitov, I.A.Shelykh and A.V.Kavokin in Superlatt. Microstruct. 90:170 (2016).
  32. Exciton-mediated superconductivity. A. Kavokin and P. Lagoudakis in Nature Mater. 15:599 (2016).
  33. Permanent Rabi oscillations in coupled exciton-photon systems with PT-symmetry. I. Yu. Chestnov, S. S. Demirchyan, A. P. Alodjants, Yu. G. Rubo and A. V. Kavokin in Sci. Rep. 6:19551 (2016).
  34. Spontaneous Polariton Currents in Periodic Lateral Chains. A. Nalitov, T. Liew, A. Kavokin, B. Altshuler and Y. Rubo in Phys. Rev. Lett. 119:067406 (2017).
  35. Polariton condensates for classical and quantum computing. A. Kavokin, T. C. H. Liew, C. Schneider, P. G. Lagoudakis, S. Klembt and S. Hoefling in Nature Rev. Phys. 4:435 (2022).
  36. Polariton lattices as binarized neuromorphic networks. E. Sedov and A. Kavokin in Light: Sci. \& App. 14:52 (2025).
  37. A universal law for random fluctuations. A. Kavokin and S. Kavokina in Science 392:144 (2026).

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