Polariton crystallization in driven arrays of lossy nonlinear resonators

TL;DR

This paper studies how driven arrays of lossy nonlinear resonators can exhibit polariton crystallization, revealing different quantum states and correlations depending on the nonlinearity strength.

Contribution

It demonstrates the emergence of polariton crystallization in driven lossy resonator arrays, a novel quantum many-body phenomenon in photonic systems.

Findings

Weak nonlinearities lead to two-mode squeezing of polaritons.

Strong nonlinearities induce spatial polariton crystallization.

Polaritons tend to localize at specific distances despite losses.

Abstract

We investigate the steady states of a lossy array of nonlinear optical resonators that are driven by lasers and interact via mutual photon tunneling. For weak nonlinearities, we find two-mode squeezing of polaritons in modes whose quasi-momenta match the relative phases of the laser drives. For strong nonlinearities the spatial polariton density-density correlations indicate that the polaritons crystallize and are predominantly found at a specific distance from each other despite being injected by a coherent light source and damped by the environment.