Vortices in polariton OPO superfluids

TL;DR

This paper reviews the formation and dynamics of quantised vortices in polariton fluids under optical parametric oscillator conditions, emphasizing their superfluid properties and the role of currents in vortex behavior.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive review of vortex phenomena in polariton OPO superfluids, including analytical and numerical modeling, and discusses vortex stability and dynamics.

Findings

Uniform OPO solutions can become unstable to vortex formation.

Metastable vortices require external injection for persistence.

Currents in OPO influence vortex occurrence and behavior.

Abstract

This chapter reviews the occurrence of quantised vortices in polariton fluids, primarily when polaritons are driven in the optical parametric oscillator (OPO) regime. We first review the OPO physics, together with both its analytical and numerical modelling, the latter being necessary for the description of finite size systems. Pattern formation is typical in systems driven away from equilibrium. Similarly, we find that uniform OPO solutions can be unstable to the spontaneous formation of quantised vortices. However, metastable vortices can only be injected externally into an otherwise stable symmetric state, and their persistence is due to the OPO superfluid properties. We discuss how the currents charactering an OPO play a crucial role in the occurrence and dynamics of both metastable and spontaneous vortices.