Realizing arbitrary trapping potentials for light via direct laser writing of mirror surface profiles

Abstract

The versatility of quantum gas experiments greatly benefits from the ability to apply variable potentials. Here we describe a method which allows the preparation of potential structures for microcavity photons via spatially selective deformation of optical resonator geometries with a heat induced mirror surface microstructuring technique. We investigate the thermalization of a two-dimensional photon gas in a dye-filled microcavity composed of the custom surface-structured mirrors at wavelength-scale separation. Specifically, we describe measurements of the spatial redistribution of thermal photons in a coupled double-ridge structure, where photons form a Bose-Einstein condensate in a spatially split ground state, as a function of different pumping geometries.

References in corpus (6)

• Bose-Einstein condensation of photons in an optical microcavity
• Thermalisation of a two-dimensional photonic gas in a 'white-wall' photon box
• Experimental Evidence for Inhomogeneous-Pumping and Energy-Dependent Effects in Photon Bose-Einstein Condensation
• Variable Potentials for Thermalized Light and Coupled Condensates
• Thermally Condensing Photons into a Coherently Split State of Light
• Thermo-optical interactions in a dye-microcavity photon Bose-Einstein condensate