Bosonic Condensation and Disorder-Induced Localization in a Flat Band

Abstract: We report on the engineering of a non-dispersive (flat) energy band in a geometrically frustrated lattice of micro-pillar optical cavities. By taking advantage of the non-hermitian nature of our system, we achieve bosonic condensation of exciton-polaritons into the flat band. Due to the infinite effective mass in such band, the condensate is highly sensitive to disorder and fragments into localized modes reflecting the elementary eigenstates produced by geometric frustration. This realization offers a novel approach to studying coherent phases of light and matter under the controlled interplay of frustration, interactions and dissipation.