Abstract
We theoretically analyze the temperature behavior of paraxial light in thermal equilibrium with a dye-filled optical microcavity. At low temperatures the photon gas undergoes Bose-Einstein condensation, and the photon number in the cavity ground state becomes macroscopic with respect to the total photon number. Owing to a grand-canonical excitation exchange between the photon gas and the dye molecule reservoir, a regime with unusually large fluctuations of the condensate number is predicted for this system that is not observed in present atomic physics Bose-Einstein condensation experiments.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Article number | 160403 |
Journal | Physical review letters |
Volume | 108 |
Issue number | 16 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 20 Apr 2012 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- n/a OA procedure