Chiral condensates in a polariton hexagonal ring

TL;DR

This paper models vortex mode generation in exciton-polariton condensates arranged in a hexagonal ring, revealing how TE-TM splitting influences vortex states, their selective excitation, and bistability at high pump intensities.

Contribution

It provides a detailed bifurcation analysis of vortex modes in a polariton ring, highlighting the effects of TE-TM splitting and interactions on mode energies and stability.

Findings

TE-TM splitting lifts degeneracy of vortex modes

Selective excitation of vortex states by tailored pump beams

Bistability emerges at high pumping intensities

Abstract

We model generation of vortex modes in exciton-polariton condensates in semiconductor micropillars, arranged into a hexagonal ring molecule, in the presence of TE-TM splitting. This splitting lifts the degeneracy of azimuthally modulated vortex modes with opposite topological charges supported by this structure, so that a number of non-degenerate vortex states characterized by different combinations of topological charges in two polarization components appears. We present a full bifurcation picture for such vortex modes and show that because they have different energies, they can be selectively excited by coherent pump beams with specific frequencies and spatial configurations. At high pumping intensity, polariton-polariton interactions give rise to the coupling of different vortex resonances and a bistable regime is achieved.