Quantum Fluids-of-LIGHt Turbulence in Semiconductor microcavities – Q-FLIGHTS

Quantum fluids are a remarkable class of physical systems where quantum properties emerge on a macroscopic scale. Examples like superconductivity, superfluidity, and Bose-Einstein condensation showcase the striking effects of macroscopic coherence in quantum fluids. When driven out of equilibrium, both classical and quantum fluids exhibit turbulent behavior. The key distinction between them is that quantum fluids lack viscosity, and the vortices, elementary excitations central to turbulence, are quantized, meaning the phase circulation around their core must be an integer multiple of 2p. These two features significantly alter the system’s behavior compared to classical turbulence, where vortices interact continuously and redistribute energy across all scales. This raises fundamental questions about how vortices in quantum fluids nucleate, interact, and recombine, which opens the field of quantum turbulence. While the interaction of vortex pairs and global energy cascades have been studied theoretically and experimentally, much remains unknown about the mesoscopic turbulent regime, where tens of vortices interact with the quantum fluid to create complex structures. Additionally, the mechanisms ruling the transition from superfluid to turbulent behavior are not yet fully understood.
In the project, we propose to tackle these questions with a superfluid-of-light made of semiconductor microcavities. This system enables detailed microscopic studies of 2D vortex spatial distributions to unveil their statistics and their interacting/ nucleating properties. Furthermore, by exploring the superfluid-to-turbulent transition in a scenario where the fluid collides on repulsive potential in the form of airfoil we address the question of the existence of lift and drag force in a superfluid of light.