Vortex-stream generation and enhanced propagation in a polariton superfluid

Giovanni Lerario,Simon Pigeon,Rajiv Boddeda,Anne Maître,Elisabeth Giacobino,Quentin Glorieux,Alberto Bramati

doi:10.1103/physrevresearch.2.023049

Abstract

In this work, we implement a new experimental configuration which exploits the specific properties of the optical bistability exhibited by the polariton system and we demonstrate the generation of a superfluid turbulent flow in the wake of a potential barrier. The propagation and direction of the turbulent flow are sustained by a support beam on distances an order of magnitude longer than previously reported. This novel technique is a powerful tool for the controlled generation and propagation of quantum turbulences and paves the way to the study of the hydrodynamic of quantum turbulence in driven-dissipative 2D polariton systems.

Highlights

Exciton polaritons are bosonic quasiparticles arising from the strong coupling between excitons and photons
The polariton microcavity under investigation is made of three In0.04Ga0.96 As/GaAs quantum wells embedded between two GaAs/AlAs-based distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs), 21 pairs for the front DBR, and 24 pairs for the back one
We have demonstrated the generation of a vortex stream flowing over more than 120 μm in the plane of a polariton microcavity, implementing an original method proposed by Pigeon and Bramati [23]

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Exciton polaritons are bosonic quasiparticles arising from the strong coupling between excitons and photons. With a cw resonant pumping, in order to ensure the absence of phase fixing and allow the appearance of topological excitations, many experiments were performed in the free propagation regime, outside the excitation area by the laser In this configuration, the polariton density and the propagation distance of the quantum fluid are limited by the polariton lifetime [6]. Thereafter, cw resonant and nonresonant pumping have been used to generate stationary vortices with in-plane engineering of the potential landscapes or even in optical parametric oscillation configurations [7,8,9,10] All these cw configurations inhibit vortex free propagation—the vortex core is spatially pinned by the excitation intensity shape—and impose strong constraints on their free interaction.

Published by the American Physical Society

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

CONCLUSION