Kardar-Parisi-Zhang universality in the phase distributions of one-dimensional exciton-polaritons

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that one-dimensional driven-dissipative exciton-polaritons exhibit KPZ universality in their phase distributions, including Tracy-Widom and Baik-Rains statistics, unaffected by certain disorder effects.

Contribution

It provides numerical evidence that exciton-polaritons under realistic conditions follow KPZ universality class, extending understanding of non-equilibrium condensate phase dynamics.

Findings

Phase distribution follows Tracy-Widom form.

Crossover to Baik-Rains stationary statistics observed.

Disorder effects are negligible over certain timescales.

Abstract

Exciton-polaritons under driven-dissipative conditions exhibit a condensation transition which belongs to a different universality class than equilibrium Bose-Einstein condensates. By numerically solving the generalized Gross-Pitaevskii equation with realistic experimental parameters, we show that one-dimensional exciton-polaritons display fine features of Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) dynamics. Beyond the scaling exponents, we show that their phase distribution follows the Tracy-Widom form predicted for KPZ growing interfaces. We moreover evidence a crossover to the stationary Baik-Rains statistics. We finally show that these features are unaffected on a certain timescale by the presence of a smooth disorder often present in experimental setups.