title: Quantum degeneracy of microcavity polaritons.
abstract: We investigate experimentally one of the main features of a quantum fluid constituted by exciton polaritons in a semiconductor microcavity, that is, quantum degeneracy of a macroscopic fraction of the particles. We show that resonant pumping allows us to create a macroscopic population of polaritons in one quantum state. Furthermore, we demonstrate that parametric polariton scattering results in the transfer of a macroscopic population of polariton from one single quantum state into another one. Finally, we briefly outline a simple method which provides direct evidence of the first-order spatial coherence of the transferred population.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, Université Paris 6, Ecole Normale Supérieure et CNRS, UPMC Case 74, France. augustin.baas@epfl.ch
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Baas
authors.forename: J-Ph
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Karr
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Romanelli
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bramati
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Giacobino