Superradiant amplification: experimental and theoretical study in a polaritonic fluid of light

Yu. M. Golubev

Elisabeth Giacobino, Maxime J. Jacquet

These lecture notes develop polariton fluids of light as programmable simulators of quantum fields on tailored curved spacetimes, with emphasis on acoustic horizons and the Hawking effect. After introducing exciton-polariton physics in semiconductor microcavities, we detail the theoretical tools to study the mean field and the quantum hydrodynamics of this driven-dissipative quantum system. We derive the mapping to relativistic field theories and cast horizon physics as a pseudounitary stationary scattering problem. We present the Gaussian optics circuit that describes observables and fixes detection weights for the horizon modes in near- and far-field measurements. We provide a practical experimental toolkit (phase-imprinted flows, coherent pump-probe spectroscopy, balanced and homodyne detection) and a step-by-step workflow to extract amplification, quadrature squeezing, and entanglement among correlations. Finally, we discuss the potential of this platform to investigate open questions in quantum field theory in curved spacetime, such as near horizon effects and quasinormal modes, as well as other phenomena universal to rotating geometries, from rotational superradiance to dynamical instabilities. We further outline the interplay between rotational superradiance and the Hawking effect, proposing to spatially resolve measurements as a roadmap for `dumb hole spectroscopy' and the study of entanglement dynamics in curved spacetimes.

Jamal T. Manassah, Barry M. Gross

Angus Prain, Calum Maitland, Daniele Faccio +1 more

We investigate the scattering process of Bogoliubov excitations on a rotating photon fluid. Using the language of Noether currents we demonstrate the occurrence of a resonant amplification phenomenon, which reduces to the standard superradiance in the hydrodynamic limit. We make use of a time-domain formulation where superradiance emerges as a transient effect encoded in the amplitudes and phases of propagating localized wave packets. Our findings generalize previous studies in quantum fluids to the case of a non-negligible quantum pressure and can be readily applied also to other physical systems, in particular atomic Bose-Einstein condensates. Finally we discuss ongoing experiments to observe superradiance in photon fluids and how our time domain analysis can be used to characterize superradiant scattering in nonideal experimental conditions.

Zhenhuan Yi, Matthew A. Morrison, Chris O’Brien +5 more

David Vocke, Thomas Roger, Francesco Marino +4 more

Quantum gases of atoms and exciton-polaritons are now well-established theoretical and experimental tools for fundamental studies of quantum many-body physics and suggest promising applications to quantum computing. Given their technological complexity, it is of paramount interest to devise other systems where such quantum many-body physics can be investigated at lesser technological expense. Here we examine a relatively well-known system of laser light propagating through thermo-optical defocusing media: based on a hydrodynamic description of light as a quantum fluid of interacting photons, we investigate such systems as a valid room-temperature alternative to atomic or exciton-polariton condensates for studies of many-body physics. First, we show that by using a technique traditionally used in oceanography it is possible to perform a direct measurement of the single-particle part of the dispersion relation of the elementary excitations on top of the photon fluid and to detect its global flow. Then, using a pump-and-probe setup, we investigate the dispersion of excitation modes of the fluid: for very long wavelengths, a sonic, dispersionless propagation is observed that we interpret as a signature of superfluid behavior. (C) 2015 Optical Society of America.