Self-Interfering Wave Packets

Abstract

We study the propagation of noninteracting polariton wave packets. We show how two qualitatively different concepts of mass that arise from the peculiar polariton dispersion lead to a new type of particlelike object from noninteracting fields-much like self-accelerating beams-shaped by the Rabi coupling out of Gaussian initial states. A divergence and change of sign of the diffusive mass results in a "mass wall" on which polariton wave packets bounce back. Together with the Rabi dynamics, this yields propagation of ultrafast subpackets and ordering of a spacetime crystal.