2018/12/05 by Davide Caputo, Nataliya Bobrovska, Dario Ballarini +8 · 29 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Interferometry #Josephson effect #Macroscopic quantum phenomena #Mechanical and Optical Resonators #Nucleation #Phase (matter) #Polariton #Quantum #Strong Light-Matter Interactions #Superfluidity #Vortex #cond-mat.quant-gas
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s41566-019-0425-3
published in Nature Photonics 13(7), 488-493 (Nature Portfolio)
arxiv created 2018/12/05 · openalex created_date 2018/12/11 · openalex publication_date 2019/05/06 · arxiv updated 2020/02/05 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Quantum fluids of light are an emerging platform for energy efficient signal processing, ultra-sensitive interferometry and quantum simulators at elevated temperatures. Here we demonstrate the optical control of the topological excitations induced in a large polariton condensate, realising the bosonic analog of a long Josephson junction and reporting the first observation of bosonic Josephson vortices. When a phase difference is imposed at the boundaries of the condensate, two extended regions become separated by a sharp π-slippage of the phase and a solitonic depletion of the density, forming an insulating barrier with a suppressed order parameter. The superfluid behavior, that is a smooth phase gradient across the system instead of the sharp phase jump, is recovered at higher polariton densities and it is mediated by the nucleation of Josephson vortices within the barrier. Our results contribute to the understanding of dissipation and stability of elementary excitations in macroscopic quantum systems.