Spin and density patterns of polariton condensates resonantly excited in strained planar microcavities with a nonuniform potential landscape

Spin and density patterns of exciton-polariton condensates in strained planar cavities with a nonuniform energy landscape are shown to undergo fast nonequilibrium transformations under the conditions of pulsed resonant excitation. Maxima in the spatial distribution of condensate density shift from the potential humps to the traps, which is accompanied by a linear-to-circular polarization conversion at each space point. The transitions are explained within the framework of modified Gross-Pitaevskii equations with account taken for the spin-anisotropic polariton-polariton interaction and the spatial dependence of the polariton energy.