Ballistic transport of a polariton ring condensate with spin precession

TL;DR

This paper reports the observation of a polariton condensate in a ring geometry exhibiting spin precession due to spin-orbit coupling, with theoretical modeling confirming the experimental results and revealing zitterbewegung effects.

Contribution

It demonstrates ballistic transport and spin precession of polariton condensates in a ring, integrating experimental observations with a theoretical model that highlights spin-orbit coupling effects.

Findings

Polariton condensate exhibits spin precession in a ring geometry.

Theoretical model accurately predicts the observed spin dynamics.

Zitterbewegung influences polariton motion.

Abstract

It is now routine to make Bose-Einstein condensates of polaritons with long enough lifetime and low enough disorder to travel ballistically for hundreds of microns in quasi-one-dimensional (1D) wires. We present observations of a polariton condensate injected at one point in a quasi-1D ring, with a well-defined initial velocity and direction. A clear precession of the circular polarization is seen, which arises from an effective spin-orbit coupling term in the Hamiltonian. Our theoretical model accurately predicts the experimentally observed behavior, and shows that "zitterbewegung" behavior plays a role in the motion of the polaritons.