research article
Soliton Instabilities and Vortex Street Formation in a Polariton Quantum Fluid
Exciton polaritons have been shown to be an optimal system in order to investigate the properties of bosonic quantum fluids. We report here on the observation of dark solitons in the wake of engineered circular obstacles and their decay into streets of quantized vortices. Our experiments provide a time-resolved access to the polariton phase and density, which allows for a quantitative study of instabilities of freely evolving polaritons. The decay of solitons is quantified and identified as an effect of disorder-induced transverse perturbations in the dissipative polariton gas.
Type
research article
Web of Science ID
WOS:000297796800011
Date Issued
2011
Publisher
Published in
Volume
107
Article Number
245301
Subjects
Editorial or Peer reviewed
REVIEWED
Written at
EPFL
EPFL units
Available on Infoscience
May 14, 2012
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