Observation of an aperiodic polariton monotile

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the optical realization of aperiodic quasicrystals using a single monotile, revealing unique spectral and coherence properties that differ from traditional periodic and quasicrystalline structures.

Contribution

It introduces the first physical realization of a single-monotile quasicrystal and studies its exciton-polariton dynamics and spectral features in an inorganic microcavity.

Findings

Observation of six-fold symmetric Bragg peaks with Dirac-like spectra.

Distinct nontrivial phase synchronization pattern in the aperiodic structure.

Long-range coherence coexists with enforced geometric aperiodicity.

Abstract

A plethora of unconventional localization phenomena and fractal features of linear spectrum observed in quasiperiodic structures have been accompanied by a long-standing quest for the geometrical elements and structures that permit tilings of the plane, but only in a non-periodic manner. Until 2024, it was believed that such quasiperiodic structures, or quasicrystals, could only be composed of at least two different tiles. Surprisingly, a newly discovered class of quasicrystals requires only one elementary monotile. However, its physical realization and study of propagating coherent excitations in this novel setting remained elusive. Here we optically sculpt aperiodic quasicrystals composed of "einstein" monotiles in an inorganic microcavity and observe nontrivial relative phases of the exciton-polariton condensates nonresonantly excited at the vertices of each monotile. Utilizing energy-resolved tomography in momentum-space, we reveal the formation of distinct Bragg peaks with six-fold symmetry and Dirac-like spectral fingerprints, intrinsic to the underlying graphene-like structure, while interferometric phase reconstruction shows a nontrivial synchronization pattern distinct from both periodic triangular lattices and Penrose quasicrystals. Our work demonstrates that monotiles can be converted into a programmable driven-dissipative artificial material, where long-range coherence coexists with enforced geometric aperiodicity, producing synchronization and spectral responses distinct from both periodic and conventional quasicrystalline tilings.