Gain-induced trapping of microcavity exciton polariton condensates

We have performed real and momentum space spectroscopy of exciton polariton condensates in a GaAs-based microcavity under nonresonant excitation with an intensity-stabilized laser. An effective trapping mechanism is revealed, which is due to the stimulated scattering gain inside the finite excitation spot combined with the short lifetime. We observe several quantized modes while the lowest state shows Heisenberg-limited real and momentum space distributions. The experimental findings are qualitatively reproduced by an open dissipative Gross-Pitaevskii equation model.