QSimFP QBH Seminar: Analogue black holes in quantum fluids of light

ABSTRACT Analogue physics is an interesting direction in modern Physics, based on the similarities of the mathematical models describing different systems. Such similarities were known for a very long time, the most famous example being the ubiquitous harmonic oscillator. However, the idea to use these similarities to study inaccessible systems and regimes in the lab has appeared relatively recently. The directions of research in analogue physics and associated effects include analogue gravity (Hawking emission1), early Universe (Kibble-Zurek mechanism2), high-energy physics (Klein tunnelling3, Zitterbewegung4), quantum simulations (Heisenberg model5), and others.

In this talk, I will discuss a particularly interesting platform: a quantum fluid of strongly-coupled exciton-polaritons, often called a quantum fluid of light. Starting with an overall description of the state of the art on analogue black holes6, I will then turn to recent advances in polariton black hole simulations7. In particular, I will discuss the topological defects called quantum vortices, which can also be considered as charged relativistic particles8 obeying to the equations of analogue electrodynamics and gravity and allowing to simulate a Kerr black hole9 and to reproduce the Penrose effect.

1 W. G. Unruh, Phys. Rev. Lett. 46, 1351 (1981).
2 W. Zurek, Nature 317, 505 (1985).
3 M. I. Katsnelson et al, Nature Physics 2, 620 (2006).
4 J. Schliemann et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 206801 (2005).
5 C. Gross, I. Bloch, Science 357, 995 (2017).
6 C. Barcelo, Nat. Physics 15, 210 (2019).
7 M. J. Jacquet et al, Ph. Trans. Roy. Soc. A 378, 20190225 (2020).
8 D. Solnyshkov et al, Phys. Rev. B 85, 073105 (2012).
9 D. Solnyshkov et al, Phys. Rev. B 99, 214511 (2019)

BIOSKETCH Dmitry Solnyshkov is a Professor of Physics (Solid State Physics) in University Clermont Auvergne (Clermont-Ferrand, France). Honorary member of the Institut Universitaire de France. Master of Physics obtained in St. Petersburg State Polytechnical University (Russia). PhD and second thesis (HDR) in University Blaise Pascal (France).Theoretician, author of more than 160 publications cited more than 6000 times, h=41 (WoS). Contributed to 4 books. Co-supervised 9 PhD students. Research topics in fundamental and applied physics: Bose-Einstein condensation, strong light-matter coupling, quantum fluids, topological physics, lasers and optical devices, 2D materials, analogue physics.