Physicists at the University of Bonn and the University of Kaiserslautern-Landau have successfully studied the dimensional crossover from one to two dimensions in a harmonically trapped gas of photons. The researchers created a dye microcavity with polymer nanostructures providing the trapping potential for the photon gas, which was then cooled and condensed.
By modifying the surface of the reflective surfaces using transparent polymers, the team could trap the photons in either one or two dimensions, influencing the dimensionality of the gas. In two dimensions, there is a precise temperature limit at which condensation occurs, known as a phase transition.
However, when creating a one-dimensional gas, thermal fluctuations can occur, destroying the order of the system and making different regions within the gas behave differently. This smears out the phase transition, making it less precise.
The team’s study demonstrates that one-dimensional photon gases do not have a precise condensation point. By adjusting the polymer structures, researchers can now investigate phenomena at the transition between different dimensionalities in detail.
While this is still basic research, it may open up new areas of application for quantum optical effects. The study has been published online in Nature Physics.
Source: https://www.sci.news/physics/one-dimensional-photon-gas-13243.html