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Title: Bose-Einstein Condensation of Long-Lifetime Polaritons in Thermal Equilibrium

Journal Article · · Physical Review Letters
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [2];  [1]
  1. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Dept. of Chemistry
  2. Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA (United States). Dept. of Physics
  3. Princeton Univ., NJ (United States). Electrical Engineering Dept.

The experimental realization of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) with atoms and quasiparticles has triggered wide exploration of macroscopic quantum effects. Microcavity polaritons are of particular interest because quantum phenomena such as BEC and superfluidity can be observed at elevated temperatures. However, polariton lifetimes are typically too short to permit thermal equilibration. This has led to debate about whether polariton condensation is intrinsically a nonequilibrium effect. Here we report the first unambiguous observation of BEC of optically trapped polaritons in thermal equilibrium in a high-$$Q$$ microcavity, evidenced by equilibrium Bose-Einstein distributions over broad ranges of polariton densities and bath temperatures. With thermal equilibrium established, we verify that polariton condensation is a phase transition with a well-defined density-temperature phase diagram. We report the measured phase boundary agrees well with the predictions of basic quantum gas theory.

Research Organization:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Excitonics (CE); Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0001088; PHY-1205762; DMR-1104383; DMR-1420541
OSTI ID:
1388263
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1338654
Journal Information:
Physical Review Letters, Vol. 118, Issue 1; Related Information: CE partners with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (lead); Brookhaven National Laboratory; Harvard University; ISSN 0031-9007
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 43 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Coherent Polariton Modes and Lasing in ZnO Nano‐ and Microwires journal December 2018
Exciton‐Polariton Wave‐Packets in Semiconductor Microwires journal December 2018
Introduction to the Dicke Model: From Equilibrium to Nonequilibrium, and Vice Versa journal October 2018
Towards properties on demand in quantum materials journal October 2017
Direct measurement of polariton–polariton interaction strength journal June 2017
Edge-emitting polariton laser and amplifier based on a ZnO waveguide journal October 2018
Polariton polarization rectifier journal August 2019
Single-shot condensation of exciton polaritons and the hole burning effect journal August 2018
Directional Goldstone waves in polariton condensates close to equilibrium journal January 2020
Observation of quantum depletion in a non-equilibrium exciton–polariton condensate journal January 2020
Quantum computing with exciton-polariton condensates journal February 2020
Josephson vortices induced by phase twisting a polariton superfluid journal May 2019
Nonlinear optics in the fractional quantum Hall regime journal July 2019
Spin polarized semimagnetic exciton-polariton condensate in magnetic field journal April 2018
THz-frequency magnon-phonon-polaritons in the collective strong-coupling regime journal June 2019
Dynamics and correlations of a Bose–Einstein condensate of photons journal August 2018
Tunable and switchable lasing in a ZnO microwire cavity at room temperature journal September 2018
The optical control of phase locking of polariton condensates journal November 2019
Free-fall of photons in a planar optical cavity journal April 2019
Fluctuation dynamics of an open photon Bose-Einstein condensate journal October 2019
Quantum fluctuations in a strongly interacting Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer polariton condensate at thermal equilibrium journal January 2020
Unconventional photon blockade journal November 2017
Excitonic Probe for Characterization of High-Quality Quantum-Well Heterostructures journal September 2019
Effect of optically induced potential on the energy of trapped exciton polaritons below the condensation threshold journal August 2019
Observation of nonequilibrium motion and equilibration in polariton rings journal December 2019
Fragmented-condensate solid of dipolar excitons journal May 2017
Quantum valley Hall effect and perfect valley filter based on photonic analogs of transitional metal dichalcogenides journal June 2017
Zitterbewegung of exciton-polaritons journal June 2018
Realization of Hofstadter's butterfly and a one-way edge mode in a polaritonic system journal August 2018
Heat-assisted self-localization of exciton polaritons journal September 2018
Magnon condensation in a dense nitrogen-vacancy spin ensemble journal January 2019
Giant spin Meissner effect in a nonequilibrium exciton-polariton gas journal March 2019
Antichiral edge states in an exciton polariton strip journal March 2019
Photon-Number-Resolved Measurement of an Exciton-Polariton Condensate journal July 2018
Controlled Ordering of Topological Charges in an Exciton-Polariton Chain journal November 2018
Platform for Electrically Pumped Polariton Simulators and Topological Lasers journal December 2018
Tuning across Universalities with a Driven Open Condensate journal October 2017
Out-of-Equilibrium Collective Oscillation as Phonon Condensation in a Model Protein journal September 2018
An exciton-polariton laser based on biologically produced fluorescent protein journal August 2016
Room temperature long-range coherent exciton polariton condensate flow in lead halide perovskites journal October 2018
Quantum metrology beyond Heisenberg limit with entangled matter wave solitons journal January 2018
Transverse instability of dark solitons in spin-orbit coupled polariton condensates journal January 2018
Topological order and thermal equilibrium in polariton condensates journal December 2017
Polaritonics: from microcavities to sub-wavelength confinement journal February 2019
Nonlinear optics in the fractional quantum Hall regime text January 2019
Macroscopic Two-Dimensional Polariton Condensates text January 2016
Spin polarized semimagnetic exciton-polariton condensate in magnetic field text January 2018
Heat-assisted self-localization of exciton polaritons text January 2018
A platform for electrically pumped polariton simulators and topological lasers text January 2018
Introduction to the Dicke model: from equilibrium to nonequilibrium, and vice versa text January 2018
Controlled ordering of topological charges in an exciton-polariton chain text January 2018
Effect of optically-induced potential on the energy of trapped exciton-polaritons below the condensation threshold text January 2018
Realization of Hofstadter's butterfly and a one-way edge mode in a polaritonic system text January 2018
Transverse instability of dark solitons in spin-orbit coupled polariton condensates text January 2018
Anti-chiral edge states in an exciton polariton strip text January 2019