Abstract
We report measurements of particle number correlations and fluctuations of a photon Bose-Einstein condensate in a dye microcavity using a Hanbury Brown-Twiss experiment. The photon gas is coupled to a reservoir of molecular excitations, which serve as both heat bath and particle reservoir to realize grand-canonical conditions. For large reservoirs, we observe strong number fluctuations of the order of the total particle number extending deep into the condensed phase. Our results demonstrate that Bose-Einstein condensation under grand-canonical ensemble conditions does not imply second-order coherence.
- Received 25 October 2013
- Publisher error corrected 22 January 2014
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.030401
© 2014 American Physical Society
Corrections
22 January 2014
Erratum
Publisher’s Note: Observation of Grand-Canonical Number Statistics in a Photon Bose-Einstein Condensate [Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 030401 (2014)]
Julian Schmitt, Tobias Damm, David Dung, Frank Vewinger, Jan Klaers, and Martin Weitz
Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 069901 (2014)
Viewpoint
Statistical flickers in a Bose-Einstein Condensate of Photons
Published 21 January 2014
Experiments with photons show that the number of particles in a Bose-Einstein condensate can have strong fluctuations.
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