Towards polaritonics: Non-equilibrium dynamics of condensed microcavity polaritons

Strong light-matter interactions in semiconductors give birth to polaritons - hybrid light-matter quasiparticles. Akin to bosonic atoms, polaritons can condense into a single quantum state and display collective quantum behaviour, such as superfluidity. By its nature, polariton condensate is a driven, nonequilibrium macroscopic quantum system, which can be manipulated via structured gain and external potentials. This project focuses on manipulation of polariton condensate in structured semiconductor microcavities. It aims to elucidate fundamental properties of non-equilibrium condensates and explore novel polariton-based classical and quantum logic elements, optical switches, and spin-memory elements.