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Cited by 223Strong Light-Matter InteractionsPlasmonic and Surface Plasmon ResearchMechanical and Optical Resonators

Bose-Einstein Condensation of Long-Lifetime Polaritons in Thermal Equilibrium

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Sun, Yongbao, Wen, Patrick, Yoon, Yoseob, Liu, Gangqiang, Steger, Mark, Pfeiffer, Loren N., West, Ken, Snoke, David W. +1 more·2017·Physical Review Letters
DOI 10.1103/physrevlett.118.016602
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Abstract

The experimental realization of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) with atoms and quasiparticles has triggered wide exploration of macroscopic quantum effects. Microcavity polaritons are of particular interest because quantum phenomena such as BEC and superfluidity can be observed at elevated temperatures. However, polariton lifetimes are typically too short to permit thermal equilibration. This has led to debate about whether polariton condensation is intrinsically a nonequilibrium effect. Here we report the first unambiguous observation of BEC of optically trapped polaritons in thermal equilibrium in a high-Q microcavity, evidenced by equilibrium Bose-Einstein distributions over broad ranges of polariton densities and bath temperatures. With thermal equilibrium established, we verify that polariton condensation is a phase transition with a well-defined density-temperature phase diagram. The measured phase boundary agrees well with the predictions of basic quantum gas theory.

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  • Early works assessed thermality in terms of the momentum distribution approaching or not a Bose-Einstein distribution at a well-defined temperature and chemical potential, while recent works have highlighted the need to establish thermalization in terms of rigorous fluctuation-dissipation relations and frequency-dependent observables.

    “While early works have assessed thermality in terms of the momentum distribution approaching or not a Bose-Einstein distribution at a well defined temperaturefoot_3 and chemical potential [119,120], recent works have highlighted the need to establish thermalization in terms of rigorous fluctuation-dissipation relations and frequency-dependent observables [121].”

    From How to exploit driving and dissipation to stabilize and manipulate quantum many-body states (2025) · cites this paper as [120]

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Sun, Y., Wen, P., Yoon, Y., Liu, G., Steger, M., Pfeiffer, L. N., West, K., Snoke, D. W., & Nelson, K. A.
Affiliations
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
  • University of Pittsburgh (US)
  • Princeton University (US)
ORCID
Venue
Physical Review Letters
Publisher
American Physical Society (APS)
Published
2017-01-05
Volume
118
Issue
1
Pages
016602-016602
ISSN
  • 0031-9007 (ISSN-L)
  • 1079-7114
DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.118.016602
OpenAlex
W2237050955
Cited by
223
References
2
Citations by year
2026: 13 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 20 · 2019: 30 · 2018: 44 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 1
FWCI
15.69
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Physical Review Letters (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
  • OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) (submittedVersion)
  • DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • arXiv (Cornell University)
Funders
  • U.S. Department of Energy
  • Office of Science
  • Basic Energy Sciences (DE-SC0001088)
  • National Science Foundation (PHY-1205762, DMR-1104383, DMR-1420541)
  • Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (GBMF4420)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Strong Light-Matter Interactions
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Plasmonic and Surface Plasmon Research
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Mechanical and Optical Resonators
Keywords
Bose-Einstein condensation, microcavity polaritons, thermal equilibrium, polariton lifetime, non-equilibrium condensation, phase transitions, high-Q microcavities, superfluidity

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