Unstable and stable regimes of polariton condensation

Year: 2018

Authors: Baboux F., De Bernardis D., Goblot V., Gladilin V. N., Gomez C., Galopin E., Le Gratiet L., Lemaitre A., Sagnes I., Carusotto I., Wouters M., Amo A., Bloch J.

Autors Affiliation: Univ Paris Saclay, Univ Paris Sud, CNRS, Ctr Nanosci & Nanotechnol,Marcoussis C2N, F-91460 Marcoussis, France; Univ Paris Diderot, Lab Mat & Phenomenes Quant, CNRS UMR 7162, F-75013 Paris, France; Univ Antwerp, TQC, Univ Pl 1, B-2610 Antwerp, Belgium; Univ Trento, INO CNR BEC Ctr, I-38123 Povo, Italy.; Univ Trento, Dipartimento Fis, I-38123 Povo, Italy; TU Wien, Atominst, Vienna Ctr Quantum Sci & Technol, A-1040 Vienna, Austria

Abstract: Modulational instabilities play a key role in a wide range of nonlinear optical phenomena, leading, e.g., to the formation of spatial and temporal solitons, rogue waves, and chaotic dynamics. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the existence of a modulational instability in condensates of cavity polaritons, quasi-particles arising from the strong coupling of cavity photons with quantum well excitons. For this purpose, we investigate the spatiotemporal coherence properties of polariton condensates in GaAs-based microcavities under continuous-wave pumping. The chaotic behavior of the instability results in a strongly reduced spatial and temporal coherence and a significantly inhomogeneous density. Additionally, we show how the instability can be tamed by introducing a periodic potential so that condensation occurs in negative mass states, leading to largely improved coherence and homogeneity. These results pave the way to the exploration of long-range order in dissipative quantum fluids of light within a controlled platform. Published by The Optical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License

Journal/Review: OPTICA

Volume: 5 (10)      Pages from: 1163  to: 1170

KeyWords: Bose-Einstein condensation; wave soliton trains; modulational instability; optical fibers; laser
DOI: 10.1364/OPTICA.5.001163

Citations: 42
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