Sagnac interferometry with coherent vortex superposition states in exciton-polariton condensates

TL;DR

This paper explores the use of vortex superposition states in exciton-polariton condensates for Sagnac interferometry, assessing their stability, sensitivity improvements, and practical advantages over optical and atomic gyroscopes.

Contribution

It demonstrates the stability of vortex-antivortex superpositions in exciton-polariton condensates and evaluates their potential for rotation sensing applications.

Findings

Vortex superpositions are stable at steady-state in various configurations.

Polariton gyroscopes have higher signal-to-noise ratios than atomic BECs.

Sensitivity per photon is lower compared to optical and atomic systems, but practical advantages exist.

Abstract

We investigate prospects of using counter-rotating vortex superposition states in non-equilibrium exciton-polariton Bose-Einstein condensates for the purposes of Sagnac interferometry. We first investigate the stability of vortex-antivortex superposition states, and show that they survive at steady-state in a variety of configurations. Counter-rotating vortex superpositions are of potential interest to gyroscope and seismometer applications for detecting rotations. Methods of improving the sensitivity are investigated by targeting high momentum states via metastable condensation, and the application of periodic lattices. The sensitivity of the polariton gyroscope is compared to its optical and atomic counterparts. Due to the large interferometer areas in optical systems and small de Broglie wavelengths for atomic BECs, the sensitivity per detected photon is found to be considerably less for the polariton gyroscope than with competing methods. However, polariton gyroscopes have an advantage over atomic BECs in a high signal-to-noise ratio, and have other practical advantages such as room-temperature operation and robust design. We estimate that the final sensitivities including signal-to-noise aspects are competitive with existing methods.