Wave pattern induced by a localized obstacle in the flow of a one-dimensional polariton condensate

TL;DR

This paper investigates wave patterns generated by a polariton condensate flowing past a localized obstacle, emphasizing the effects of dissipation and pumping in a quasi-one-dimensional system.

Contribution

It models the polariton condensate flow with a modified Gross-Pitaevskii equation including dissipation and pumping, analyzing both weak and nonlinear regimes.

Findings

Transition from viscous drag to wave resistance identified

Wave patterns depend on dissipation and pumping parameters

Flow response characterized in different regimes

Abstract

Motivated by recent experiments on generation of wave patterns by a polariton condensate incident on a localized obstacle, we study the characteristics of such flows under the condition that irreversible processes play a crucial role in the system. The dynamics of a non-resonantly pumped polariton condensate in a quasi-one-dimensional quantum wire is modeled by a Gross-Pitaevskii equation with additional phenomenological terms accounting for the dissipation and pumping processes. The response of the condensate flow to an external potential describing a localized obstacle is considered in the weak-perturbation limit and also in the nonlinear regime. The transition from a viscous drag to a regime of wave resistance is identified and studied in detail.