Stuttgart 2012 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 1: Quantengase: Bosonen 1

Q 1.6: Talk

Monday, March 12, 2012, 11:45–12:00, V53.01

Optimized dye-filled microcavity setup to observe Bose-Einstein condensation of photons — •Tobias Damm, David Dung, Julian Schmitt, Jan Klaers, Frank Vewinger, and Martin Weitz — Institute for Applied Physics (IAP), University of Bonn

In earlier works we realised a Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) of Photons in a dye-filled optical microcavity. A photon number conserving thermalisation process is achieved by multiple absorption and emission processes of dye-molecules. The cavity itself provides a confining potential that leads to a non-trivial ground state and a nonvanishing photon mass, making the system formally equivalent to a two-dimensional gas of trapped, massive bosons. The photon occupation of the transversal cavity modes follows a room temperature thermal distribution above the cavity cut-off. Increasing the mean photon density inside the cavity by enhancing the pump power above a critical value leads to Bose-Einstein condensation of photons into the transversal ground mode.
Here we report on the development of a newly designed dye-filled optical microcavity system. In this mechanically closed new setup, an improved control of the dye flow is achieved. Further, an enhanced optical access is provided and a new technique for active cavity length stabilisation is implemented. These improvements of the experimental setup promise to be useful e.g. in planned measurements of the statistics of the photon Bose-Einstein condensate.