Splitting spin-orbit coupled polariton vortex pairs in the non-Hermitian Rashba-Dresselhaus band at room temperature

Abstract: Spin orbit coupling gives rise to intriguing physical phenomena in bosonic condensates, such as formation of stripe phases and domains with vortex arrays. However, how the non-Hermiticity affects the spatial distribution of spin orbit coupled topological defects such as vortex pair is still challenging to study. In the present work, we realize a non-equilibrium room-temperature exciton polariton condensate within a microdisk potential in a liquid crystal (LC) microcavity with the perovskite CsPbBr3 as optically active material. We use the interplay of TE-TM mode splitting and Rashba-Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling (RDSOC) to realize electrically tunable polariton vortex pairs with locked spin and orbital angular momentum. Importantly, the non-Hermiticity of RDSOC bands leads to nonreciprocal transportation of the vortex pair such that they move to the opposite edges of the microdisk depending on their spin. Our results are robust against sample imperfections and pave the way to investigate the coupling of vortex orbital and spin degrees of freedom in a quantum fluid of light at room temperature, offering potential for generation of complex states of light for non-Hermitian quantum optical information processing within optoelectronic chips.