Dynamics of long-range ordering in an exciton-polariton condensate

Phys Rev Lett. 2009 Dec 18;103(25):256402. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.256402. Epub 2009 Dec 15.

Abstract

We report on time-resolved measurements of the first order spatial coherence in an exciton-polariton Bose-Einstein condensate. Long-range spatial coherence is found to set in right at the onset of stimulated scattering, on a picosecond time scale. The coherence reaches its maximum value after the population and decays slowly, staying up to a few hundred picoseconds. This behavior can be qualitatively reproduced, using a stochastic classical field model describing interaction between the polariton condensate and the exciton reservoir within a disordered potential.