Spontaneous pattern formation in a polariton condensate.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL Spontaneous pattern formation in a polariton condensate

Spatial pattern formation and polarization dynamics of a nonequilibrium spinor polariton condensate

Quasiparticles in semiconductors—such as microcavity polaritons—can form condensates in which the steady-state density profile is set by the balance of pumping and decay. By taking account of the polarization degree of freedom for a polariton condensate, and considering the effects of an applied magnetic field, we theoretically discuss the interplay between polarization dynamics, and the spatia...

Build up of off-diagonal long-range order in microcavity exciton-polaritons across the parametric threshold.

We report an experimental study of the spontaneous spatial and temporal coherence of polariton condensates generated in the optical parametric oscillator configuration, below and at the parametric threshold, and as a function of condensate area. Above the threshold we obtain very long coherence times (up to 3 ns) and a spatial coherence extending over the entire condensate (40 μm). The very lon...

Relaxation oscillations in the formation of a polariton condensate.

We report observation of oscillations in the dynamics of a microcavity polariton condensate formed under pulsed nonresonant excitation. While oscillations in a condensate have always been attributed to Josephson mechanisms due to a chemical potential unbalance, here we show that under some localization conditions of the condensate, they may arise from relaxation oscillations, a pervasive classi...

Bose-Einstein Condensates in Optical Lattices: Spontaneous Emission in the Presence of Photonic Band Gaps

An extended Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in an optical lattice provides a kind of periodic dielectric and causes band gaps to occur in the spectrum of light propagating through it. We examine the question whether these band gaps can modify the spontaneous emission rate of atoms excited from the BEC, and whether they can lead to a self-stabilization of the BEC against spontaneous emission. We ...