Nonlinear dynamics of nonequilibrium exciton-polaritons in a periodic potential

Abstract An exciton-polariton condensate formed in a semiconductor microcavity coupled to an exciton reservoir in the strong coupling regime is studied. The condensate is trapped in onedimensional periodic potential, and we work in the centre of Brillouin zone. We develop a model for coupled three spatial harmonics of mean field. Using the simplified model we get important analytical relations for polaritonic eigenstates and band-structure. The analytical results are supported by numerical analysis. The strong influence of external potential and nonlinearity is discussed and the feedback induced by the inhomogeneity of the incoherent reservoir on the dynamics of coherent polaritons

High temperature phase transition in the coupled atom-light system in the presence of optical collisions

The problem of photonic phase transition for the system of a two-level atomic ensemble interacting with a quantized single-mode electromagnetic field in the presence of optical collisions (OC) is considered. We have shown that for large and negative atom-field detuning a photonic field exhibits high temperature second order phase transition to superradiant state under thermalization condition for coupled atom-light states. Such a transition can be connected with superfluid (coherent) properties of photon-like low branch (LB) polaritons. We discuss the application of metallic cylindrical waveguide for observing predicted effects.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figure

Thermalization of coupled atom-light states in the presence of optical collisions

The interaction of a two-level atomic ensemble with a quantized single mode electromagnetic field in the presence of optical collisions (OC) is investigated both theoretically and experimentally. The main accent is made on achieving thermal equilibrium for coupled atom-light states (in particular dressed states). We propose a model of atomic dressed state thermalization that accounts for the evolution of the pseudo-spin Bloch vector components and characterize the essential role of the spontaneous emission rate in the thermalization process. Our model shows that the time of thermalization of the coupled atom-light states strictly depends on the ratio of the detuning and the resonant Rabi frequency. The predicted time of thermalization is in the nanosecond domain and about ten times shorter than the natural lifetime at full optical power in our experiment. Experimentally we are investigating the interaction of the optical field with rubidium atoms in an ultra-high pressure buffer gas cell under the condition of large atom-field detuning comparable to the thermal energy in frequency units. In particular, an observed detuning dependence of the saturated lineshape is interpreted as evidence for thermal equilibrium of coupled atom-light states. A significant modification of sideband intensity weights is predicted and obtained in this case as well.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures; the content was edite