Single-shot condensation of exciton polaritons and the hole burning effect

E. Estrecho; T. Gao; N. Bobrovska; M. D. Fraser; M. Steger; L. Pfeiffer; K. West; T. C. H. Liew; Michał Matuszewski; D. W. Snoke; A. G. Truscott; E. A. Ostrovskaya

doi:10.1038/s41467-018-05349-4

journal article Open Access Aug 09, 2018

Single-shot condensation of exciton polaritons and the hole burning effect

E. Estrecho

T. Gao N. Bobrovska M. D. Fraser M. Steger L. Pfeiffer K. West T. C. H. Liew Michał Matuszewski

D. W. Snoke A. G. Truscott E. A. Ostrovskaya

Nature Communications Vol. 9 No. 1 · Springer Science and Business Media LLC

View at Publisher Save 10.1038/s41467-018-05349-4

Abstract

AbstractA bosonic condensate of exciton polaritons in a semiconductor microcavity is a macroscopic quantum state subject to pumping and decay. The fundamental nature of this driven-dissipative condensate is still under debate. Here, we gain an insight into spontaneous condensation by imaging long-lifetime exciton polaritons in a high-quality inorganic microcavity in a single-shot optical excitation regime, without averaging over multiple condensate realisations. We demonstrate that condensation is strongly influenced by an incoherent reservoir and that the reservoir depletion, the so-called spatial hole burning, is critical for the transition to the ground state. Condensates of photon-like polaritons exhibit strong shot-to-shot fluctuations and density filamentation due to the effective self-focusing associated with the reservoir depletion. In contrast, condensates of exciton-like polaritons display smoother spatial density distributions and are second-order coherent. Our observations show that the single-shot measurements offer a unique opportunity to study fundamental properties of non-equilibrium condensation in the presence of a reservoir.

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Published: Aug 09, 2018
Vol/Issue: 9(1)
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Authors

Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Al. Lotników 32/46, 02-668 Warsaw, Poland

Cite This Article

E. Estrecho, T. Gao, N. Bobrovska, et al. (2018). Single-shot condensation of exciton polaritons and the hole burning effect. Nature Communications, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-05349-4

Single-shot condensation of exciton polaritons and the hole burning effect

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