Non-stationary statistics and formation jitter in transient photon condensation

Benjamin T. Walker, João D. Rodrigues (), Himadri S. Dhar, Rupert F. Oulton, Florian Mintert and Robert A. Nyman
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Benjamin T. Walker: Imperial College London
João D. Rodrigues: Imperial College London
Himadri S. Dhar: Imperial College London
Rupert F. Oulton: Imperial College London
Florian Mintert: Imperial College London
Robert A. Nyman: Imperial College London

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract While equilibrium phase transitions are easily described by order parameters and free-energy landscapes, for their non-stationary counterparts these quantities are usually ill-defined. Here, we probe transient non-equilibrium dynamics of an optically pumped, dye-filled microcavity. We quench the system to a far-from-equilibrium state and find delayed condensation close to a critical excitation energy, a transient equivalent of critical slowing down. Besides number fluctuations near the critical excitation energy, we show that transient phase transitions exhibit timing jitter in the condensate formation. This jitter is a manifestation of the randomness associated with spontaneous emission, showing that condensation is a stochastic, rather than deterministic process. Despite the non-equilibrium character of this phase transition, we construct an effective free-energy landscape that describes the formation jitter and allows, in principle, its generalization to a wider class of processes.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-15154-7

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