Polariton spin whirls

• Main Authors: Cilibrizzi, P., Sigurdsson, H., Liew, Timothy Chi Hin, Ohadi, H., Wilkinson, S., Askitopoulos, A., Shelykh, Ivan A., Lagoudakis, P. G.
• Other Authors: School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: Spin whirls; Polaritons
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/85835; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/43878
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

We report on the observation of spin whirls in a radially expanding polariton condensate formed under nonresonant optical excitation. Real space imaging of polarization- and time-resolved photoluminescence reveals a spiralling polarization pattern in the plane of the microcavity. Simulations of the spatiotemporal dynamics of a spinor condensate reveal the crucial role of polariton interactions with a spinor exciton reservoir. Harnessing spin-dependent interactions between the exciton reservoir and polariton condensates allows for the manipulation of spin currents and the realization of dynamic collective spin effects in solid-state systems.