Bose–Einstein condensation of exciton polaritons

J. Kasprzak (), M. Richard, S. Kundermann, A. Baas, P. Jeambrun, J. M. J. Keeling, F. M. Marchetti, M. H. Szymańska, R. André, J. L. Staehli, V. Savona, P. B. Littlewood, B. Deveaud () and Le Si Dang
Additional contact information
J. Kasprzak: Université J. Fourier-Grenoble
M. Richard: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Station 3
S. Kundermann: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Station 3
A. Baas: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Station 3
P. Jeambrun: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Station 3
J. M. J. Keeling: MIT, Department of Physics
F. M. Marchetti: University of Cambridge
M. H. Szymańska: University of Oxford
R. André: Université J. Fourier-Grenoble
J. L. Staehli: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Station 3
V. Savona: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Station 3
P. B. Littlewood: University of Cambridge
B. Deveaud: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Station 3
Le Si Dang: Université J. Fourier-Grenoble

Nature, 2006, vol. 443, issue 7110, 409-414

Abstract: Abstract Phase transitions to quantum condensed phases—such as Bose–Einstein condensation (BEC), superfluidity, and superconductivity—have long fascinated scientists, as they bring pure quantum effects to a macroscopic scale. BEC has, for example, famously been demonstrated in dilute atom gas of rubidium atoms at temperatures below 200 nanokelvin. Much effort has been devoted to finding a solid-state system in which BEC can take place. Promising candidate systems are semiconductor microcavities, in which photons are confined and strongly coupled to electronic excitations, leading to the creation of exciton polaritons. These bosonic quasi-particles are 109 times lighter than rubidium atoms, thus theoretically permitting BEC to occur at standard cryogenic temperatures. Here we detail a comprehensive set of experiments giving compelling evidence for BEC of polaritons. Above a critical density, we observe massive occupation of the ground state developing from a polariton gas at thermal equilibrium at 19 K, an increase of temporal coherence, and the build-up of long-range spatial coherence and linear polarization, all of which indicate the spontaneous onset of a macroscopic quantum phase.

Date: 2006
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature05131 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:443:y:2006:i:7110:d:10.1038_nature05131

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/nature05131

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().