Kardar-Parisi-Zhang physics in optically-confined continuous polariton condensates

Abstract

Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) scaling has been observed in discrete polariton lattices, enabled by engineered band structures that stabilize the condensate. Whether this universality extends to intrinsically continuous systems with natural noise regularization remains an open question. We propose and numerically demonstrate KPZ scaling in a continuous quasi-one-dimensional polariton condensate stabilized by optical confinement in the transversal direction. Large-scale simulations of the stochastic Gross-Pitaevskii equation, with experimentally relevant parameters, reveal temporal and spatial scaling exponents of the two-point phase correlation function betaC = 0.30(5) and alfaC =0.46(8), and Tracy-Widom one-point phase fluctuation statistics, yielding robust KPZ dynamics intrinsic to the continuous polariton fluid.