Screening nearest-neighbor interactions in networks of exciton-polariton condensates through spin-orbit coupling

We study the modification of the spatial coupling parameter between interacting ballistic exciton-polariton condensates in the presence of photonic spin-orbit coupling appearing from transverse electric--transverse magnetic (TE-TM) splitting in planar semiconductor microcavities. We propose a strategy to make the coupling strength between next-nearest neighbors stronger than between nearest neighbors, which inverts the conventional idea of the spatial coupling hierarchy between sites. Our strategy relies on the dominantly populated high-momentum components in the ballistic condensates which, in the presence of TE-TM splitting, lead to rapid radial precession of the polariton pseudospin. As a consequence, condensate pairs experience distance-periodic screening of their interaction strength, severely modifying their synchronization and condensation threshold solutions.