Observation of a supersolid phase in a spin-orbit coupled exciton-polariton Bose-Einstein condensate
In Bose-Einstein condensates, spin-orbit coupling (SOC) produces supersolidity. It is a peculiar state of matter, which, in addition to the superfluid behavior, shows periodic density modulation typical for crystals. Here, we report the fabrication of an original type of optical microcavity, allowing the achievement of room-temperature supersolidity for a quantum fluid of light. The microcavity is filled with a nematic liquid crystal (LC) and two layers of the organic polymer methyl-substituted ladder-type poly( p -phenylene) (MeLPPP) hosting exciton resonances. We demonstrate exciton-polariton condensation in the two distinct degenerate minima of the dispersion created by the LC-induced Rashba-Dresselhaus SOC. The condensate real-space distribution shows density stripes located randomly from one condensate realization to another despite the presence of a random disorder potential. This demonstrates the immunity of stripes against disorder and the spontaneous breaking of translational invariance. We also report the random appearance of vortices, another feature of superfluids.
Authors
- Rafał Mirek (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4885-2571)
- Ullrich Scherf (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8368-4919)
- Przemysław Morawiak (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3998-3422)
- Dmitriy S. Dovzhenko (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3820-8969)
- Rainer F. Mahrt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9772-1490)
- G. Malpuech (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2849-7667)
- Darius Urbonas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9919-9221)
- Przemysław Oliwa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1255-5997)
- Jacek Szczytko (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5150-2682)
- Dmitry D. Solnyshkov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2506-759X)
- Wiktor Piecek (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7683-535X)
- Barbara Piętka (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1771-2963)
- Rafał Mazur (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5675-4459)
- Marcin Muszyński (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-9313)
- Pavel Kokhanchik (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8849-9683)
- Michael Förster (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9927-5124)
- Piotr Kapuściński (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0241-0583)
- Thilo Stöferle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0612-7195)
- Pietro Tassan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-8493-6028)
- Ioannis Georgakilas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-4378-1052)
- Przemysław Kula (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7862-7968)
Institutions
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- University of Wuppertal (DE)
- Institut Pascal (FR)
- Institut Universitaire de France (FR)
- Université Clermont Auvergne (FR)
- Military University of Technology in Warsaw (PL)
- IBM Research - Zurich (CH)
- University of Southampton (GB)
- Clermont Auvergne INP (FR)
- University of Warsaw (PL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Science Advances
- Published
- 2026-10-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aee4875
- Primary Topic
- Strong Light-Matter Interactions
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche
- Narodowe Centrum Nauki
- H2020 Future and Emerging Technologies