Nonlinear Polariton Localization in Strongly Coupled Driven-Dissipative Microcavities

The interplay of hopping and interactions in coupled photonic resonators gives rise to a number of nonlinear optical phenomena including multistability, self-trapping, and nonlinear Josephson oscillations. Here we use two coupled semiconductor microcavities to investigate the nonlinear localization of polaritons in a novel regime where a single cavity is coherently driven at a frequency just above the lowest bonding state of the dimer. For driving powers above the bistability threshold we observe that polaritons progressively localize in the driven cavity. Our experimental observations are reproduced by numerical calculations using a one-dimensional driven-dissipative Gross-Pitaevsldi equation. The phenomenology here observed shows the potential of nonlinear coupled photonic resonators to engineer novel optical functionalities.