Polariton condensation in a strain-compensated planar microcavity with InGaAs quantum wells

The investigation of intrinsic interactions in polariton condensates is currently limited by the photonic disorder of semiconductor microcavity structures. Here, we use a strain compensated planar GaAs/AlAs_0.98P_0.02 microcavity with embedded InGaAs quantum wells having a reduced cross-hatch disorder to overcome this issue. Using real and reciprocal space spectroscopic imaging under non-resonant optical excitation, we observe polariton condensation and a second threshold marking the onset of photon lasing, i.e., the transition from the strong to the weak-coupling regime. Condensation in a structure with suppressed photonic disorder is a necessary step towards the implementation of periodic lattices of interacting condensates, providing a platform for on chip quantum simulations.