Bose-Einstein Condensation of Light in Disordered Nano Cavities at Room Temperature

• Main Author: Erglis, Andris
• Other Authors: Fratalocchi, Andrea
• Language: en
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Bose; Einstein; Condensation; Light; Disorder; Nanocavity
• Online Access: Erglis, A. (2019). Bose-Einstein Condensation of Light in Disordered Nano Cavities at Room Temperature. <i>KAUST Research Repository</i>. https://doi.org/10.25781/KAUST-69CC1; http://hdl.handle.net/10754/630964

Bose-Einstein Condensation is a macroscopic occupation of bosons in the lowest energy state. For atoms, extremely low temperatures are required to observe this phenomenon. For photons, condensation has been demonstrated at room temperature, requiring a large number of particles (N ∼ 77000) and very complicated setup. Here we study the possibility of observing BEC of light at room temperature with a much lower number of particles by leveraging disorder in a dielectric material. There is no constraint in the number of photons in the system like in the previous research. We investigate what happens to photons once they are put inside a cavity with a disorder. The analysis is carried out by using time-dependent quantum Langevin equations, complemented by a thermodynamic analysis on quantum photons. Both approaches give the same expression for the critical temperature of condensation. We demonstrate that photons in a disordered cavity with arbitrary initial statistical distribution reach thermal equilibrium and undergo a Bose-Einstein Condensation if the temperature is sufficiently reduced. In our model we demonstrate that the temperature is related to the losses of the system. At this state, photons follow Boltzmann distribution. It is demonstrated that by only varying the strength of disorder, it is possible to change the critical temperature of the phase transition, thus making condensation possible at room temperature. This work opens up the possibility to create new types of light condensate by using disorder.