Synchronization and spacetime vortices in one-dimensional driven-dissipative condensates and coupled oscillator models

Abstract

Driven-dissipative condensates, such as those formed from polaritons, expose how the coherence of Bose-Einstein condensates evolves far from equilibrium. We consider the phase and frequency ordering in the steady-states of a one-dimensional lattice of condensates, described by a coupled oscillator model with non-odd couplings, including both time-dependent noise and a static random potential. We present numerical results for the phase and frequency distributions, and discuss them in terms of the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation and the physics of spacetime vortices. We find that the nucleation of spacetime vortices causes the breakdown of the single-frequency steady-state and produces a variation in the frequency with position. Such variation would provide an experimental signature of spacetime vortices. More generally, our results expose the nature of synchronization in oscillator chains with non-odd couplings, random frequencies, and noise.