Dissipative Phase Transition with Driving-Controlled Spatial Dimension and Diffusive Boundary Conditions

Zejian Li (1) , Ferdinand Claude (2) , Thomas Boulier (2) , Elisabeth Giacobino (2) , Quentin Glorieux (2) , Alberto Bramati (2) , Cristiano Ciuti (1)

1 MPQ (UMR_7162) - Laboratoire Matériaux et Phénomènes Quantiques
2 LKB [Collège de France] - Laboratoire Kastler Brossel

We investigate theoretically and experimentally a first-order dissipative phase transition, with diffusive boundary conditions and the ability to tune the spatial dimension of the system. The considered physical system is a planar semiconductor microcavity in the strong light-matter coupling regime, where polariton excitations are injected by a quasiresonant optical driving field. The spatial dimension of the system from 1D to 2D is tuned by designing the intensity profile of the driving field. We investigate the emergence of criticality by increasing the spatial size of the driven region. The system is nonlinear due to polariton-polariton interactions and the boundary conditions are diffusive because the polaritons can freely diffuse out of the driven region. We show that no phase transition occurs using a 1D driving geometry, while for a 2D geometry we do observe both in theory and experiments the emergence of a first-order phase transition. The demonstrated technique allows all-optical and in situ control of the system geometry, providing a versatile platform for exploring the many-body physics of photons.

Domaines: Physique Atomique [physics.atom-ph]

Zejian Li, Ferdinand Claude, Thomas Boulier, Elisabeth Giacobino, Quentin Glorieux, et al.. Dissipative Phase Transition with Driving-Controlled Spatial Dimension and Diffusive Boundary Conditions. Physical Review Letters, 2022, 128 (9), pp.093601. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.093601⟩. ⟨hal-03644005⟩