Nonlinear bifurcation diagrams of the current states of microcavity exciton-polaritons in the lattice

Abstract

We study nonequilibrium properties of exciton-polaritons in an incoherently driven semiconductor microcavity with an embedded weak-contrast periodic lattice. Within the framework of mean-field theory, we describe nonlinear eigenstates of coherent exciton polaritons having the structure of Bloch waves and identify nonlinear current states at the boundaries of Brillouin zone. We demonstrate a profound modification of the eigenfrequency-momenta bifurcation diagrams of the condensate evoked by exciton-exciton interactions. The discussed phenomenon occurs for the states possessing high degree of symmetry, i.e. in particular, for the states lying at the centre or at the boundary of Brillouin zone.