On the position-dependent effective mass in Bose condensates of photons and polaritons in an optical microcavity trap

The effect of the particle position-dependent effective mass on the behavior of quasi-two-dimensional photon and exciton-polariton condensates in a parabolic trap in a semiconductor optical microcavity is investigated. It is demonstrated that the correct inclusion of the coordinate dependence of the effective mass in the kinetic-energy operator modifies the effective confining potential for the particles. Corrections to the energy and wavefunction of the photon Bose condensate are derived. For exciton-polaritons, it is shown that the choice of specific mirror geometry can lead to the change from repulsive to attractive particle-particle interaction.