title: Bose-Einstein condensation of stationary-light polaritons.
abstract: We propose and analyze a mechanism for Bose-Einstein condensation of stationary dark-state polaritons. Dark-state polaritons (DSPs) are formed in the interaction of light with laser-driven 3-level Lambda-type atoms and are the basis of phenomena such as electromagnetically induced transparency, ultraslow, and stored light. They have long intrinsic lifetimes and in a stationary setup, a 3D quadratic dispersion profile with variable effective mass. Since DSPs are bosons, they can undergo a Bose-Einstein condensation at a critical temperature which can be many orders of magnitude larger than that of atoms. We show that thermalization of polaritons can occur via elastic collisions mediated by a resonantly enhanced optical Kerr nonlinearity on a time scale short compared to the decay time. Finally, condensation can be observed by turning stationary into propagating polaritons and monitoring the emitted light.
authors.affiliation: Fachbereich Physik, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fleischhauer
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Otterbach
authors.forename: Razmik G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Unanyan