Half-Skyrmion Spin Textures In Polariton Microcavities

TL;DR

This paper investigates complex spin textures, including half-skyrmions, in polariton condensates within microcavities, revealing their formation through polarization patterns and theoretical modeling of their dynamics.

Contribution

It demonstrates the formation of half-skyrmion spin textures in polariton condensates and models their dynamics using a driven-dissipative Gross-Pitaevskii framework.

Findings

Observation of quadruplet and octuplet polarization patterns

Identification of half-skyrmions with topological properties

Theoretical explanation via optical spin-Hall effect

Abstract

We study the polarization dynamics of a spatially expanding polariton condensate under nonresonant linearly polarized optical excitation. The spatially and temporally resolved polariton emission reveals the formation of non-trivial spin textures in the form of a quadruplet polarization pattern both in the linear and circular Stokes parameters, and an octuplet in the diagonal Stokes parameter. The continuous rotation of the polariton pseudospin vector through the condensate due to TE-TM splitting exhibits an ordered pattern of half-skyrmions associated with a half-integer topological number. A theoretical model based on a driven-dissipative Gross-Pitaevskii equation coupled with an exciton reservoir describes the dynamics of the nontrivial spin textures through the optical spin-Hall effect.