Polarization dynamics in a photon BEC

TL;DR

This paper theoretically investigates the polarization behavior in a photon Bose-Einstein condensate within a dye-filled microcavity, revealing incomplete polarization thermalization and significant polarization changes across the condensation threshold.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical analysis of polarization dynamics in photon BECs, highlighting the incomplete thermalization of polarization states and their dependence on material parameters.

Findings

Polarization thermalization is generally incomplete.

Polarization degree varies significantly across the condensation threshold.

Polarization depends on material parameters.

Abstract

It has previously been shown that a dye-filled microcavity can produce a Bose-Einstein condensate of photons. Thermalization of photons is possible via repeated absorption and re-emission by the dye molecules. In this paper, we theoretically explore the behavior of the polarization of light in this system. We find that in contrast to the near complete thermalization between different spatial modes of light, thermalization of polarization states is expected to generally be incomplete. We show that the polarization degree changes significantly from below to above threshold, and explain the dependence of polarization on all relevant material parameters.