Bose-Einstein condensation of an optical thermodynamic system into a solitonic state

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Zhang, Jiaxuan, Fan, Jintao, Mei, Chao, Steinmeyer, Günter, Hu, Minglie
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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_version_ 1866909209090588672
author Zhang, Jiaxuan
Fan, Jintao
Mei, Chao
Steinmeyer, Günter
Hu, Minglie
author_facet Zhang, Jiaxuan
Fan, Jintao
Mei, Chao
Steinmeyer, Günter
Hu, Minglie
contents Recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in multimode fibers due to their intriguing physics and applications, with spatial beam self-cleaning (BSC) having received special attention. In BSC light condenses into the fundamental fiber mode at elevated intensities. Despite extensive efforts utilizing optical thermodynamics to explain such counterintuitive beam reshaping process, several challenges still remain in fully understanding underlying physics. Here we provide compelling experimental evidence that BSC in a dissipative dual-core fiber can be understood in full analogy to Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) in dilute gases. Being ruled by the identical Gross-Pitaevskii Equation, both systems feature a Townes soliton solution, for which we find further evidence by modal decomposition of our experimental data. Specifically, we observe that efficient BSC only sets in after an initial thermalization phase, causing converge towards a Townes beam profile once a threshold intensity has been surpassed. This process is akin to a transition from classical to quantum-mechanical thermodynamics in BEC. Furthermore, our analysis also identifies dissipative processes as a crucial, yet previously unidentified component for efficient BSC in multimode fiber. This discovery paves the way for unprecedented applications of multimode-fiber based systems in ultrafast lasers, communications, and fiber-based delivery of high-power laser beams.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2405_13716
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Bose-Einstein condensation of an optical thermodynamic system into a solitonic state
Zhang, Jiaxuan
Fan, Jintao
Mei, Chao
Steinmeyer, Günter
Hu, Minglie
Optics
Pattern Formation and Solitons
Recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in multimode fibers due to their intriguing physics and applications, with spatial beam self-cleaning (BSC) having received special attention. In BSC light condenses into the fundamental fiber mode at elevated intensities. Despite extensive efforts utilizing optical thermodynamics to explain such counterintuitive beam reshaping process, several challenges still remain in fully understanding underlying physics. Here we provide compelling experimental evidence that BSC in a dissipative dual-core fiber can be understood in full analogy to Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) in dilute gases. Being ruled by the identical Gross-Pitaevskii Equation, both systems feature a Townes soliton solution, for which we find further evidence by modal decomposition of our experimental data. Specifically, we observe that efficient BSC only sets in after an initial thermalization phase, causing converge towards a Townes beam profile once a threshold intensity has been surpassed. This process is akin to a transition from classical to quantum-mechanical thermodynamics in BEC. Furthermore, our analysis also identifies dissipative processes as a crucial, yet previously unidentified component for efficient BSC in multimode fiber. This discovery paves the way for unprecedented applications of multimode-fiber based systems in ultrafast lasers, communications, and fiber-based delivery of high-power laser beams.
title Bose-Einstein condensation of an optical thermodynamic system into a solitonic state
topic Optics
Pattern Formation and Solitons
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.13716