2013/03/31 by Hugo Terças, H. Terças, H. Flayac +2 · 125 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Anisotropy #Condensed matter physics #Coupling (piping) #Field (mathematics) #Materials science #Mechanical and Optical Resonators #Physics #Polariton #Quantum mechanics #Spin–orbit interaction #Strong Light-Matter Interactions #Superfluidity #Topological Materials and Phenomena #cond-mat.quant-gas
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.112.066402
published in Physical Review Letters 112(6), 066402 (American Physical Society) · 5 pages, 5 figures (Phys. Rev. Lett., in press)
arxiv created 2014/02/06 · openalex publication_date 2014/02/11 · arxiv updated 2014/08/26 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We show that the TE-TM modes splitting and the structure anisotropy of a semiconductor microcavity combine into a non-Abelian gauge field for exciton-polaritons or cavity photons. The field texture can be tuned simply by rotating the sample and ranges continuously from a Rashba to a monopolar field. In the noninteracting regime, the latter leads to remarkable focusing and conical diffraction effects. In the interacting regime, the spin-orbit coupling induces a breakdown of superfluidity. The spatially homogeneous flows become unstable and dynamically evolve into spin textured states, such as stripes or domain walls.