TY - JOUR
T1 - Bose-Einstein condensation of paraxial light
AU - Klaers, J.
AU - Schmitt, J.
AU - Damm, T.
AU - Vewinger, F.
AU - Weitz, M.
PY - 2011/10
Y1 - 2011/10
N2 - Photons, due to the virtually vanishing photon-photon interaction, constitute to very good approximation an ideal Bose gas, but owing to the vanishing chemical potential a (free) photon gas does not show Bose-Einstein condensation. However, this is not necessarily true for a lowerdimensional photon gas. By means of a fluorescence induced thermalization process in an optical microcavity one can achieve a thermal photon gas with freely adjustable chemical potential. Experimentally, we have observed thermalization and subsequently Bose-Einstein condensation of the photon gas at room temperature. In this paper, we give a detailed description of the experiment, which is based on a dye-filled optical microcavity, acting as a white-wall box for photons. Thermalization is achieved in a photon numberconserving way by photon scattering off the dye molecules, and the cavity mirrors both provide an effective photon mass and a confining potential-key prerequisites for the Bose-Einstein condensation of photons. The experimental results are in good agreement with both a statistical and a simple rate equation model, describing the properties of the thermalized photon gas.
AB - Photons, due to the virtually vanishing photon-photon interaction, constitute to very good approximation an ideal Bose gas, but owing to the vanishing chemical potential a (free) photon gas does not show Bose-Einstein condensation. However, this is not necessarily true for a lowerdimensional photon gas. By means of a fluorescence induced thermalization process in an optical microcavity one can achieve a thermal photon gas with freely adjustable chemical potential. Experimentally, we have observed thermalization and subsequently Bose-Einstein condensation of the photon gas at room temperature. In this paper, we give a detailed description of the experiment, which is based on a dye-filled optical microcavity, acting as a white-wall box for photons. Thermalization is achieved in a photon numberconserving way by photon scattering off the dye molecules, and the cavity mirrors both provide an effective photon mass and a confining potential-key prerequisites for the Bose-Einstein condensation of photons. The experimental results are in good agreement with both a statistical and a simple rate equation model, describing the properties of the thermalized photon gas.
KW - n/a OA procedure
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84855563386&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00340-011-4734-6
DO - 10.1007/s00340-011-4734-6
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84855563386
SN - 0946-2171
VL - 105
SP - 17
EP - 33
JO - Applied physics B: Lasers and optics
JF - Applied physics B: Lasers and optics
IS - 1
ER -