No Arabic abstract
Polariton condensates have proved to be model systems to investigate topological defects, as they allow for direct and non-destructive imaging of the condensate complex order parameter. The fundamental topological excitations of such systems are quantized vortices. In specific configurations, further ordering can bring the formation of vortex lattices. In this work we demonstrate the spontaneous formation of ordered vortical states, consisting in geometrically self-arranged vortex-antivortex pairs. A mean-field generalized Gross-Pitaevskii model reproduces and supports the physics of the observed phenomenology.
Polariton condensation can be regarded as a self-organization phenomenon, where phase ordering is established among particles in the system. In such condensed systems, further ordering can possibly occur in the particle density distribution, under particular experimental conditions. In this work we report on spontaneous pattern formation in a polariton condensate under non-resonant optical pumping. The slightly elliptical ring-shaped excitation laser we employ is such to force condensation to occur in a single-energy state with periodic boundary conditions, giving rise to a multi-lobe standing wave patterned state.
We study, both theoretically and experimentally, the occurrence of topological defects in polariton superfluids in the optical parametric oscillator (OPO) regime. We explain in terms of local supercurrents the deterministic behaviour of both onset and dynamics of spontaneous vortex-antivortex pairs generated by perturbing the system with a pulsed probe. Using a generalised Gross-Pitaevskii equation, including photonic disorder, pumping and decay, we elucidate the reason why topological defects form in couples and can be detected by direct visualizations in multi-shot OPO experiments.
We present the theoretical prediction of spontaneous rotating vortex rings in a parametrically driven quantum fluid of polaritons -- coherent superpositions of coupled quantum well excitons and microcavity photons. These rings arise not only in the absence of any rotating drive, but also in the absence of a trapping potential, in a model known to map quantitatively to experiments. We begin by proposing a novel parametric pumping scheme for polaritons, with circular symmetry and radial currents, and characterize the resulting nonequilibrium condensate. We show that the system is unstable to spontaneous breaking of circular symmetry via a modulational instability, following which a vortex ring with large net angular momentum emerges, rotating in one of two topologically distinct states. Such rings are robust and carry distinctive experimental signatures, and so they could find applications in the new generation of polaritonic devices.
We consider a condensate of exciton-polaritons in a diluted magnetic semiconductor microcavity. Such system may exhibit magnetic self-trapping in the case of sufficiently strong coupling between polaritons and magnetic ions embedded in the semiconductor. We investigate the effect of the nonequilibrium nature of exciton-polaritons on the physics of the resulting self-trapped magnetic polarons. We find that multiple polarons can exist at the same time, and derive a critical condition for self-trapping which is different to the one predicted previously in the equilibrium case. Using the Bogoliubov-de Gennes approximation, we calculate the excitation spectrum and provide a physical explanation in terms of the effective magnetic attraction between polaritons, mediated by the ion subsystem.
Polaritons in microcavities are versatile quasi-2D bosonic particles with a high degree of coherence and strong nonlinearities, thanks to their hybrid light-matter character. In their condensed form, they display striking quantum hydrodynamic features analogous to atomic Bose-Einstein condensates, such as long-range order coherence, superfluidity and quantized vorticity. Their variegated dispersive and dissipative properties, however, set significant differences from their atomic counterpart. In this work, we report the unique phenomenology that is observed when a pulse of light impacts the polariton vacuum: the condensate that is instantaneously formed does not splash in real space but instead coheres into an enigmatic structure, featuring concentric rings and, most notably, a sharp and bright peak at the center. Using a state-of-the-art ultrafast imaging with 50 fs time steps, we are able to track the dynamics of the polariton mean-field wavefunction in both real and reciprocal space. The observation of the real-space collapse of the condensate into an extremely localized---resolution limited---peak is at odd with the repulsive interactions of polaritons and their positive effective mass. An unconventional mechanism is therefore at play to account for our observations. Our modeling suggests that self-trapping due to a local heating of the crystal lattice---that can be described as a collective polaron formed by a polariton condensate---could be involved. These observations hint at the fascinating fluid dynamics of polaritons in conditions of extreme intensities and ultrafast times.