title: Linear wave dynamics explains observations attributed to dark solitons in a polariton quantum fluid.
abstract: We investigate the propagation and scattering of polaritons in a planar GaAs microcavity in the linear regime under resonant excitation. The propagation of the coherent polariton wave across an extended defect creates phase and intensity patterns with identical qualitative features previously attributed to dark and half-dark solitons of polaritons. We demonstrate that these features are observed for negligible nonlinearity (i.e., polariton-polariton interaction) and are, therefore, not sufficient to identify dark and half-dark solitons. A linear model based on the Maxwell equations is shown to reproduce the experimental observations.
authors.affiliation: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cilibrizzi
authors.affiliation: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ohadi
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague, Ke Karlovu 3, 121 15 Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ostatnicky
authors.affiliation: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Askitopoulos
authors.affiliation: School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, The Parade, CF24 3AA Cardiff, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Langbein
authors.affiliation: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lagoudakis