English

Probing a dissipative phase transition via dynamical optical hysteresis

Optics 2017-08-02 v2 Quantum Physics

Abstract

We experimentally explore the dynamic optical hysteresis of a semiconductor microcavity as a function of the sweep time. The hysteresis area exhibits a double power law decay due to the shot noise of the driving laser, which triggers switching between metastable states. Upon increasing the average photon number and approaching the thermodynamic limit, the double power law evolves into a single power law. This algebraic behavior characterizes a dissipative phase transition. Our findings are in good agreement with theoretical predictions, and the present experimental approach is promising for the exploration of critical phenomena in photonic lattices.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1608.00260,
  title  = {Probing a dissipative phase transition via dynamical optical hysteresis},
  author = {S. R. K. Rodriguez and W. Casteels and F. Storme and N. Carlon Zambon and I. Sagnes and L. Le Gratiet and E. Galopin and A. Lemaitre and A. Amo and C. Ciuti and J. Bloch},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1608.00260},
  year   = {2017}
}

Comments

9 pages including supplemental information

R2 v1 2026-06-22T15:08:41.896Z