Gain-induced trapping of microcavity exciton polariton condensates

TL;DR

This paper investigates how gain-induced mechanisms create effective traps for exciton polariton condensates in microcavities, revealing quantized modes and Heisenberg-limited distributions through spectroscopy and modeling.

Contribution

It introduces a novel gain-induced trapping mechanism for exciton polariton condensates and demonstrates its effects through experiments and theoretical modeling.

Findings

Observation of multiple quantized modes in the condensates

Lowest state exhibits Heisenberg-limited distributions

Qualitative agreement with open dissipative Gross-Pitaevskii model

Abstract

We have performed real and momentum space spectroscopy of exciton polariton condensates in a GaAs-based microcavity under non-resonant excitation with an intensity stabilized laser. An effective trapping mechanism is revealed, which is due to the stimulated scattering gain inside the finite excitation spot combined with the short lifetime. We observe several quantized modes while the lowest state shows Heisenberg-limited real and momentum space distributions. The experimental findings are qualitatively reproduced by an open dissipative Gross-Pitaevskii equation model.