Abstract

Excitons, electron-hole coulomb bound states insemiconductors, are quasi-particle excitations that are analogous to boson-like atoms in many ways. New methods now allow to create and to confine such particles in ultra-clean coupled two-dimensional layers, with extremely long lifetimes. With the right design, those excitons can become dipolar, with all the electric-dipoles aligned. Such a configuration forms a unique system of interacting bosons in two-dimensions. At the extreme density and temperature limits, collective quantum effects are expected and the system should undergo quantum phase transitions to new collective phases in two dimensions. Moreover, under such conditions, the (hydro-) dynamics of the exciton fluid is uniquely determined by the intricate interplay of interaction and quantum statistics, opening up opportunities for new design and study of quantum fluid devices. In this talk I will review our research progress and the remaining challenges in this growing field, and describe our efforts to develop techniques for manipulating, trapping and cooling dense exciton fluids and to observe collective quantum effects. I will also do my best to portray a picture of what we now know and what we do not yet know of such systems and of what lies ahead in our exciton fluidics research.