Mainz 2017 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 38: Quantum Gases: Bosons V
Q 38.3: Talk
Wednesday, March 8, 2017, 15:00–15:15, P 204
Thermalized Light in Variable Micropotentials and Coupled Photon Condensates — •David Dung1, Christian Kurtscheid1, Tobias Damm1, Erik Busley1, Fahri Emre Öztürk1, Julian Schmitt1, Frank Vewinger1, Jan Klärs2, and Martin Weitz1 — 1Institut für Angewandte Physik, Universität Bonn — 2Institut für Quantenelektronik, ETH Zürich
We report work creating multiple coupled photon condensates in a single microcavity setup at room-temperature. In general, Bose-Einstein condensation has been observed for cold atomic gases, solid state quasiparticles as exciton-polaritons, and more recently with photons. The latter can be realized in a dye-filled optical microcavity. Number-conserving thermalization of photons in the dye-microcavity is achieved by multiple absorption and fluorescence processes on dye-molecules.
The microcavity creates a suitable ground state for condensation, equivalent to a non-vanishing effective photon mass. By locally thermo-optically changing the refractive index inside the microcavity an effective trapping potential for photons can be induced. For this, a focused external control laser beam locally heats an absorbing layer below one of the cavity mirror coatings, leading to a local refractive index change of a thermo-responsive polymer mixed with the dye solution. We show that Bose-Einstein condensation can be realized in such a micropotential. Moreover a thermo-optical photon self interaction is observed. Finally we show measurements on the coupling of two microsites in a double well potential for light, showing both hybridization of Eigenstates and coherent oscillations.