  Quantum vortices, the quantized version of classical vortices, play a
prominent role in superfluid and superconductor phase transitions. However,
their exploration at a particle level in open quantum systems has gained
considerable attention only recently. Here we study vortex pair interactions in
a resonant polariton fluid created in a solid-state microcavity. By tracking
the vortices on picosecond time scales, we reveal the role of nonlinearity, as
well as of density and phase gradients, in driving their rotational dynamics.
Such effects are also responsible for the split of composite spin-vortex
molecules into elementary half-vortices, when seeding opposite vorticity
between the two spinorial components. Remarkably, we also observe that vortices
placed in close proximity experience a pull-push scenario leading to unusual
scattering-like events that can be described by a tunable effective potential.
Understanding vortex interactions can be useful in quantum hydrodynamics and in
the development of vortex-based lattices, gyroscopes, and logic devices.
