Quantum-fluid dynamics of microcavity polaritons

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates superfluid-like behavior of polaritons in microcavities, showing linear dispersion, resistance-free flow, and suppression of scattering in an out-of-equilibrium, high-speed quantum fluid system.

Contribution

It provides experimental evidence of superfluid phenomena in a highly unusual, dissipative polariton system traveling at ultra-fast velocities.

Findings

Observation of linear polariton dispersion

Flow without resistance across obstacles

Suppression of Rayleigh scattering

Abstract

Semiconductor microcavities offer a unique system to investigate the physics of weakly interacting bosons. Their elementary excitations, polaritons--a mixture of excitons and photons--behave, in the low density limit, as bosons that can undergo a phase transition to a regime characterised by long range coherence. Condensates of polaritons have been advocated as candidates for superfluidity; and the formation of vortices as well as elementary excitations with a linear dispersion are actively sought after. In this work, we have created and set in motion a macroscopically degenerate state of polaritons and let it collide with a variety of defects present in the sample. Our experiments show striking manifestations of a coherent light-matter packet that displays features of a superfluid, although one of a highly unusual character as it involves an out-of-equilibrium dissipative system where it travels at ultra-fast velocity of the order of 1% the speed of light. Our main results are the observation of i) a linear polariton dispersion accompanied with diffusion-less motion, ii) flow without resistance when crossing an obstacle, iii) suppression of Rayleigh scattering and iv) splitting into two fluids when the size of the obstacle is comparable with the size of the wavepacket. This work opens the way to the investigation of new phenomenology of out-of-equilibrium condensates.