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Photon BEC

A Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) is a state of matter in which extensive collective coherence leads to intriguing macroscopic quantum phenomena. Research into BECs has expanded the understanding of quantum mechanics and has led to the discovery of new physical effects. This condensate has been intensively studied last two decades with cold atoms in optical lattices because of the possibility to control parameters in experiments with high precision.
Atom-atom interactions in BECs lead to rich and interesting nonlinear phenomena. Bose-Einstein condensation of light in a dye microcavity has been observed recently — this is known as a `photon BEC’, and can be used as a new source of nonclassical light. In the microcavity the continuous
absorption and emission of photons by dye molecules occurs, which we study via the methods of macroscopic QED. This
facilitates an investigation of the cavity-geometry dependent properties of the photon BEC.

 


Researchers:
Y. Gorbachev, R. Bennett, S. Y. Buhmann