Creation and manipulation of stable dark solitons and vortices in microcavity polariton condensates

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the creation and manipulation of stable dark solitons and vortices in microcavity polariton condensates using optical methods, enabling controlled generation and positioning for potential applications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method to stabilize and control dark solitons and vortices in polariton condensates with simple optical pumping and coherent light pulses.

Findings

Stable dark solitons and vortices can be created with non-resonant incoherent excitation.

Coherent light pulses can control the creation and destruction of dark solitons.

Vortices can be moved or set into motion using coherent light and pump structure switching.

Abstract

Solitons and vortices obtain widespread attention in different physical systems as they offer potential use in information storage, processing, and communication. In exciton-polariton condensates in semiconductor microcavities, solitons and vortices can be created optically. However, dark solitons are unstable and vortices cannot be spatially controlled. In the present work we demonstrate the existence of stable dark solitons and vortices under non-resonant incoherent excitation of a polariton condensate with a simple spatially periodic pump. In one dimension, we show that an additional coherent light pulse can be used to create or destroy a dark soliton in a controlled manner. In two dimensions we demonstrate that a coherent light beam can be used to move a vortex to a specific position on the lattice or be set into motion by simply switching the periodic pump structure from two-dimensional (lattice) to one-dimensional (stripes). Our theoretical results open up exciting possibilities for optical on-demand generation and control of dark solitons and vortices in polariton condensates.