Engineering photon statistics in a spinor polariton condensate

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how to control photon statistics in a spinor polariton condensate by manipulating its polarization dynamics, revealing transitions from coherence to super-thermal states through polarization tomography.

Contribution

It introduces a method to engineer photon statistics in a spinor polariton condensate using cavity birefringence, interactions, and optical orientation, with full polarization tomography.

Findings

Observation of stochastic polarization switching and limit cycles.

Controlled transition from coherent to super-thermal photon states.

Correlation between polarization dynamics and photon statistics.

Abstract

We implement full polarization tomography on the photon correlations in a spinor exciton-polariton condensate. Our measurements reveal condensate pseudospin mean-field dynamics spanning from stochastic switching between linear polarization components, limit cycles, and stable fixed points, and their intrinsic relation to the condensate photon statistics. We optically harness the cavity birefringence, polariton interactions, and the optical orientation of the photoexcited exciton background to engineer photon statistics with precise control. Our results demonstrate a smooth transition from a highly coherent to a super-thermal state of the condensate polarization components.