|
Abstract |
An analog simulator is a synthetic physical system, which emulates in a controlled way a physical problem.
You can get answers about the physical problem by directly performing experiments on the simulator. This
approach is particularly relevant for quantum problems where computation times grows exponentially with the
system’s size. In the present seminar, I will present the polariton platform and explain how it is relevant for
analog simulation of many interesting open problems.
Cavity polaritons are hybrid exciton-photon quasi-particle emerging from the strong coupling regime between
photons confined in an optical cavity and excitons confined in quantum wells. They present physical
properties reflecting their mixed nature. From the photon part, they inherit a small effective mass and can be
confined in lattices with typical dimensions of the order of a few microns. Their excitonic part endows them
with inter-particle interactions resulting in a giant Kerr non linearity. Moreover the system is intrinsically open
and out of equilibrium because photons constantly leak out from the cavity. Cavity polaritons have been
shown to present fascinating properties such as Bose Einstein condensation at elevated temperature,
superfluidity, multistability etc [1].
In the present talk, I will explain how the polariton plateform is particularly suitable to realize analog
simulation of open complex systems and explore fundamental physical phenomena.
I will describe a few recent results of our group:
How do wave localize in exotic quasi-crystals and how fractality does develop? This physics can be emulated
with polariton lattices [2]
Polariton condensates are out of equilibrium and their phase dynamics has been predicted to obey the
celebrated Kardar Parisi Zhang (KPZ) equation. We have been able to reveal experimentally universal KPZ
scaling laws in the first order coherence of a 1D polariton condensate.[3]
Polariton lattices are also very interesting for the investigation of topological photonics. In particular, the
ability to drive the system with controlled phases opens a new paradigm for non-linear topological photonics.
[4]
References :
[1] Ciuti & I. Carusotto, Quantum fluids of light, Rev. Mod. Phys. 85, 299 (2013)
[2] V. Goblot et al. Emergence of criticality through a cascade of delocalization transitions in quasiperiodic
chains, Nature Physics 16, 832 (2020)
[3] Q. Fontaine et al., Observation of KPZ universal scaling in a one-dimensional polariton condensate,
arXiv:2112.09550 (2021)
[4] N. Pernet et al., N. Pernet, et al., Topological gap solitons in a 1D non-Hermitian lattice, arXiv:2101.01038
(to appear 2022) |
