Bose-Einstein condensation of photons in a microscopic optical resonator: towards photonic lattices and coupled cavities

Jan Klaers; Julian Schmitt; Tobias Damm; David Dung; Frank Vewinger; Martin Weitz

doi:10.1117/12.2001831

22 February 2013 Bose-Einstein condensation of photons in a microscopic optical resonator: towards photonic lattices and coupled cavities

Jan Klaers, Julian Schmitt, Tobias Damm, David Dung, Frank Vewinger, Martin Weitz

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 8600, Laser Resonators, Microresonators, and Beam Control XV; 86000L (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2001831
Event: SPIE LASE, 2013, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

Bose-Einstein condensation has in the last two decades been observed in cold atomic gases and in solid-state physics quasiparticles, exciton-polaritons and magnons, respectively. The perhaps most widely known example of a bosonic gas, photons in blackbody radiation, however exhibits no Bose-Einstein condensation, because the particle number is not conserved and at low temperatures the photons disappear in the system’s walls instead of massively occupying the cavity ground mode. This is not the case in a small optical cavity, with a low-frequency cutoff imprinting a spectrum of photon energies restricted to values well above the thermal energy. The here reported experiments are based on a microscopic optical cavity filled with dye solution at room temperature. Recent experiments of our group observing Bose-Einstein condensation of photons in such a setup are described. Moreover, we discuss some possible applications of photon condensates to realize quantum manybody states in periodic photonic lattices and photonic Josephson devices.

Citation Download Citation

Jan Klaers, Julian Schmitt, Tobias Damm, David Dung, Frank Vewinger, and Martin Weitz "Bose-Einstein condensation of photons in a microscopic optical resonator: towards photonic lattices and coupled cavities", Proc. SPIE 8600, Laser Resonators, Microresonators, and Beam Control XV, 86000L (22 February 2013); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2001831

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