Role of supercurrents on vortices formation in polariton condensates

TL;DR

This paper investigates how supercurrents influence the formation and dynamics of vortices in polariton condensates, using time-resolved interferometry to analyze vortex-antivortex pairs created by optical pulses in a polariton OPO.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of vortex-antivortex pair creation and annihilation driven by supercurrents in a polariton OPO, highlighting the role of pulsed optical perturbations.

Findings

Supercurrents are responsible for vortex-antivortex pair dynamics.

Optical pulses can create and annihilate vortices in polariton condensates.

Phase analysis reveals the flow responsible for topological defect formation.

Abstract

Observation of quantized vortices in non-equilibrium polariton condensates has been reported either by spontaneous formation and pinning in the presence of disorder or by imprinting them onto the signal or idler of an optical parametric oscillator (OPO). Here, we report a detailed analysis of the creation and annihilation of polariton vortex-antivortex pairs in the signal state of a polariton OPO by means of a short optical Gaussian pulse at a certain finite pump wave-vector. A time-resolved, interferometric analysis of the emission allows us to extract the phase of the perturbed condensate and to reveal the dynamics of the supercurrents created by the pulsed probe. This flow is responsible for the appearance of the topological defects when counter-propagating to the underlying currents of the OPO signal.