Buildup dynamics of room-temperature polariton condensation

By using the femtosecond angle-resolved spectroscopic imaging technique, the ultrafast buildup dynamics of room-temperature polariton condensation is explicitly visualized in a ZnO whispering gallery mode microcavity. The buildup time of polariton condensation with respect to the arrival of the femtosecond pump pulse decreases with the increasing pump power and reaches a lower limit of about 4 ps. Simulation results by numerically solving the open-dissipative Gross-Pitaevskii equation coupled to an incoherent reservoir are in quantitative agreement with the experimental observations, showing that the scattering from exciton reservoir to the lower polariton branches and the decay from these branches dominate the buildup process.