Spontaneous polariton currents in periodic lateral chains

TL;DR

This paper predicts that superfluid polariton currents can spontaneously form in microcavities with periodic modulation, breaking spatial symmetry and creating dynamic domain structures influenced by pumping power.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of spontaneous polariton currents in modulated microcavities and analyzes their stability and domain formation, a novel phenomenon in polariton physics.

Findings

Spontaneous polariton currents emerge at a critical pump power.

Current direction is stochastically chosen and domain structures form.

Domain size and lifetime scale with pumping power.

Abstract

We predict spontaneous generation of superfluid polariton currents in planar microcavities with lateral periodic modulation of both potential and decay rate. A spontaneous breaking of spatial inversion symmetry of a polariton condensate emerges at a critical pumping, and the current direction is stochastically chosen. We analyse the stability of the current with respect to the fluctuations of the condensate. A peculiar spatial current domain structure emerges, where the current direction is switched at the domain walls, and the characteristic domain size and lifetime scale with the pumping power.