TY - JOUR A1 - Kim, Seonghoon A1 - Zhang, Bo A1 - Wang, Zhaorong A1 - Fischer, Julian A1 - Brodbeck, Sebastian A1 - Kamp, Martin A1 - Schneider, Christian A1 - Höfling, Sven A1 - Deng, Hui T1 - Coherent Polariton Laser T2 - Physical Review X N2 - The semiconductor polariton laser promises a new source of coherent light, which, compared to conventional semiconductor photon lasers, has input-energy threshold orders of magnitude lower. However, intensity stability, a defining feature of a coherent state, has remained poor. Intensity noise many times the shot noise of a coherent state has persisted, attributed to multiple mechanisms that are difficult to separate in conventional polariton systems. The large intensity noise, in turn, limits the phase coherence. Thus, the capability of the polariton laser as a source of coherence light is limited. Here, we demonstrate a polariton laser with shot-noise-limited intensity stability, as expected from a fully coherent state. This stability is achieved by using an optical cavity with high mode selectivity to enforce single-mode lasing, suppress condensate depletion, and establish gain saturation. Moreover, the absence of spurious intensity fluctuations enables the measurement of a transition from exponential to Gaussian decay of the phase coherence of the polariton laser. It suggests large self-interaction energies in the polariton condensate, exceeding the laser bandwidth. Such strong interactions are unique to matter-wave lasers and important for nonlinear polariton devices. The results will guide future development of polariton lasers and nonlinear polariton devices. KW - polariton laser KW - condensed matter physics KW - photonics KW - quantum physics KW - coherent light Y1 - 2016 UR - https://opus.bibliothek.uni-wuerzburg.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/16659 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-166597 VL - 6 IS - 011026 ER -