Phys.org April 6, 2022
Exploiting the interaction between polaritons has led to the realization of superfluids of light as well as of strongly correlated phases in the microwave domain, with similar efforts underway for microcavity excitons–polaritons. Researchers at Stony Brook University have developed an ultracold-atom analogue of an exciton–polariton system in which interacting polaritonic phases can be studied with full tunability and in the absence of dissipation. In their optical lattice system, they replaced exciton by an atomic excitation, whereas an atomic matter wave was substituted for the photon under a strong dynamical coupling between the two constituents that hybridizes the two dispersion relations. They accessed the band structure of the matter-wave polariton spectroscopically by coupling the upper and lower polariton branches, as well as explored polaritonic transport in the superfluid and Mott-insulating regimes. They found quantitative agreement with their theoretical expectations. The work sheds light on fundamental polariton properties and related many-body phenomena and opens new possibilities for studies of polaritonic quantum matter…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
Experimental schematic and polariton formation. Credit: Nature Physics (2022)Â