Thermalization and Bose-Einstein condensation of quantum light in bulk nonlinear media

Abstract

We study the thermalization and the Bose-Einstein condensation of a paraxial, spectrally narrow beam of quantum light propagating in a lossless bulk Kerr medium. The spatiotemporal evolution of the quantum optical field is ruled by a Heisenberg equation analogous to the quantum nonlinear Schrödinger equation of dilute atomic Bose gases. Correspondingly, in the weak-nonlinearity regime, the phase-space density evolves according to the Boltzmann equation. Expressions for the thermalization time and for the temperature and the chemical potential of the eventual Bose-Einstein distribution are found. After discussing experimental issues, we introduce an optical setup allowing the evaporative cooling of a guided beam of light towards Bose-Einstein condensation. This might serve as a novel source of coherent light.

6 pages, 1 figure

References in corpus (4)

• Quantum fluids of light
• Bose-Einstein condensation of photons in an optical microcavity
• Thermalisation of a two-dimensional photonic gas in a 'white-wall' photon box
• Propagation of a quantum fluid of light in a cavityless nonlinear optical medium: General theory and response to quantum quenches

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