Ground-State Selection by Pure Energy Relaxation in Polariton Condensates

TL;DR

This paper investigates how pure energy relaxation influences mode selection in dissipative polariton condensates, revealing a transition from vortex to ground-state condensates as pump power increases.

Contribution

It demonstrates that pure energy relaxation destabilizes excited states, favoring ground-state condensation in nonequilibrium polariton systems.

Findings

Energy relaxation causes the condensate to evolve from vortex to ground state.

Pure energy relaxation destabilizes excited states, promoting ground-state selection.

The asymptotic state changes with pump power, from vortex to rotating mixed to ground state.

Abstract

We study nonequilibrium mode selection in dissipative exciton-polariton condensates incoherently pumped through an excitonic reservoir in the presence of pure energy relaxation. For a confined system in which a vortex mode is selected at threshold, we show that energy relaxation qualitatively changes the condensation scenario: as the pump increases, the asymptotic state evolves from a vortex condensate to a rotating mixed state and then to a ground-state condensate. Pure energy relaxation thus destabilizes condensation into excited states and promotes ground-state selection.