Selective photoexcitation of exciton-polariton vortices

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the selective excitation and imaging of vortex states in exciton-polariton systems confined in cylindrical traps, enabling control over their topological properties for potential applications.

Contribution

It introduces a method to resonantly excite and select specific vortex states in confined exciton-polaritons, advancing control over their topological wavefunctions.

Findings

Successful excitation of singly and doubly charged polariton vortices.

Ability to tune vortex charge via excitation conditions.

Imaging of phase and amplitude of confined polariton states.

Abstract

We resonantly excite exciton-polariton states confined in cylindrical traps. Using a homodyne detection setup, we are able to image the phase and amplitude of the confined polariton states. We evidence the excitation of vortex states, carrying an integer angular orbital momentum m, analogous to the transverse TEM01* "donut" mode of cylindrically symmetric optical resonators. Tuning the excitation conditions allows us to select the charge of the vortex. In this way, the injection of singly charged (m = 1 & m = -1) and doubly charged (m = 2) polariton vortices is shown. This work demonstrates the potential of in-plane confinement coupled with selective excitation for the topological tailoring of polariton wavefunctions.