Dissociation of a full quantized vortix into two half vortices.
© 2012 EPFL
Dissociation dynamics of singly charged vortices into half-quantum vortex pairs.
The fundamental excitations of a Bose Einstein condensate of polaritons are not standard quantized vortices where the phase changes by 2π when circulating around the core of the vortex, but half vortices that appear only in one of the two coexisting polarized quantum fluids. In this paper, the group of Prof. Benoît Deveaud (Laboratory of Quantum Optoelectronics), time resolve the dissociation of a full quantized vortex into its fundamental constituents, two half vortices. This happens within only a few picoseconds in our system.