Bose-Einstein condensation of photons in a long fiber cavity.

We demonstrate photon Bose-Einstein condensation (photon-BEC) at a broad temperature range that is valid also in the long 1D fiber cavity limit. It is done with an erbium-ytterbium co-doped fiber (EYDF) cavity by overcoming the challenging requirement of sublinear light dispersion for BEC in 1D using a chirped-gratings Fabry-Perot. We experimentally show with a square-root mode-dispersion, a quadratic temperature dependence of the critical power for condensation (compared to a linear dependence in finite regular fiber-cavities) between 90 K and 382 K, as the theory predicts.

Nonlinear light mode dispersion and nonuniform mode comb by a Fabry-Perot with chirped fiber gratings.

We demonstrate a nonlinear light mode dispersion and a nonuniform frequency mode comb by a chirped fiber Bragg gratings (CFBG) Fabry-Perot (FP) at the 1550 nm wavelength regime. We give analytical expressions for the general chirp case, and an experimental demonstration with a linear chirp, showing a square-root dependence of the dispersion as a function of the FP mode number. Such sublinear dispersion is required, for example, for photon Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) in a one-dimensional (1D) system like fiber cavities.

Bose-Einstein condensation of photons in an erbium-ytterbium co-doped fiber cavity.

Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) is a special many-boson phenomenon that was observed in atomic particles at ultra-low temperatures. Later, BEC was also shown for non-atomic bosons, such as photons. Those experiments were usually done in micron-size cavities, where the power (particle number) was varied, and not the temperature, until condensation was reached.

Thermalization of one-dimensional photon gas and thermal lasers in erbium-doped fibers.

We demonstrate thermalization and Bose-Einstein (BE) distribution of photons in standard erbium-doped fibers (edf) in a broad spectral range up to ~200nm at the 1550nm wavelength regime. Our measurements were done at a room temperature ~300K and 77K. It is a special demonstration of thermalization of photons in fiber cavities and even in open fibers.

CW laser light condensation.

We present a first experimental demonstration of classical CW laser light condensation (LC) in the frequency (mode) domain that verifies its prediction (Fischer and Weill, Opt. Express20, 26704 (2012)). LC is based on weighting the modes in a noisy environment in a loss-gain measure compared to an energy (frequency) scale in Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC).

When does single-mode lasing become a condensation phenomenon?

We present a generic route to classical light condensation (LC) in linear photonic mode systems, such as cw lasers, with different grounds from regular Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC). LC is based on weighting the modes in a noisy environment (spontaneous emission, etc.) in a loss-gain scale, rather than in photon energy.

Experimental observation of critical phenomena in a laser light system.

We experimentally demonstrate critical behavior of a passively mode-locked laser with properties that are similar to those of gas-liquid and magnetic spin systems. The laser light modes provide a special nonthermodynamic many-body system where noise takes the role of temperature. It is also a rare opportunity of an experimental pure one-dimensional system.

Laser light condensate: experimental demonstration of light-mode condensation in actively mode locked laser.

We have recently predicted (R. Weill, B. Fischer and O.

Light-mode condensation in actively-mode-locked lasers.

We show that the formation of pulses in actively mode-locked lasers exhibits in certain conditions a transition of the laser mode system to a light pulse state that is similar to Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC). The study is done in the framework of statistical light-mode dynamics with a mapping between the distribution of the laser eigenmodes to the equilibrium statistical physics of noninteracting bosons in an external potential. The light-mode BEC transition occurs for a mode-locking modulation that has a power law dependence on time with an exponent smaller than 2.

Statistical light-mode dynamics of multipulse passive mode locking.

We study the multipulse formation in passive mode locking in the framework of the statistical light-mode dynamics theory. It is a many-body theory that treats the complex many-mode laser system by statistical mechanics. We give a detailed theory and experimental verification for the important case of multiple-pulse formation in the laser cavity.

Critical behavior of light in mode-locked lasers.

Light is shown to exhibit critical and tricritical behavior in passively mode-locked lasers with externally injected pulses. It is a first and unique example of critical phenomena in a one-dimensional many-body light-mode system. The phase diagrams consist of regimes with continuous wave, driven parapulses, spontaneous pulses via mode condensation, and heterogeneous pulses, separated by phase transition lines that terminate with critical or tricritical points.

Formation and annihilation of laser light pulse quanta in a thermodynamic-like pathway.

We present a theoretical and experimental study of multiple pulse formation in passively mode-locked lasers. Following a statistical-mechanics approach, the study yields a thermodynamic-like "phase diagram" with boundaries representing cascaded first order phase transitions. They correspond to abrupt creation or annihilation of pulses and a quantized rf power behavior, as system parameters (noise and/or pumping levels) are varied, in excellent accordance with the experiments.