Dynamical critical exponents in driven-dissipative quantum systems

Abstract: We study the phase-ordering of parametrically and incoherently driven microcavity polaritons after an infinitely rapid quench across the critical region. We confirm that the system, despite its driven-dissipative nature, fulfils dynamical scaling hypothesis for both driving schemes by exhibiting self-similar patterns for the two-point correlator at late times of the phase ordering. We show that polaritons are characterised by the dynamical critical exponent z ~ 2 with topological defects playing a fundamental role in the dynamics, giving logarithmic corrections both to the power-law decay of the number of vortices and to the associated growth of the characteristic length-scale.