Frictionless flow in a binary polariton superfluid

TL;DR

This paper investigates the transition to frictionless flow in a binary polariton superfluid, revealing how inter-component coupling affects superfluidity and proposing experimental methods to observe this crossover.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of superfluid behavior in a binary polariton system, highlighting the impact of component coupling on superfluidity and offering experimental guidance.

Findings

Coupling prevents superfluidity in one component but not the other.

The Landau criteria are used to describe the crossover.

A method to experimentally detect the transition is proposed.

Abstract

We study the properties of a binary microcavity polariton superfluid coherently injected by two lasers. The crossover from the supersonic to subsonic regime, where motion is frictionless, is described by evaluating the Bogoliubov spectra. We show that according to the Landau criteria, the coupling between the two components precludes the existence of superfluidity just for one component but not for the other. By analysing the drag force exerted on a defect, we give a recipe to experimentally address the crossover from the supersonic to the subsonic regime.