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Updated: Feb 6, 2026

Spectral and Angle-Resolved Magneto-Optical Characterization of Photonic Nanostructures
Published on: November 21, 2019
Photon-Number-Resolved Measurement of an Exciton-Polariton Condensate
M Klaas1, E Schlottmann2, H Flayac3
1Technische Physik, Wilhelm-Conrad-Röntgen-Research Center for Complex Material Systems, Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany.
Abstract:
We measure the full photon-number distribution emitted from a Bose condensate of microcavity exciton polaritons confined in a micropillar cavity. The statistics are acquired by means of a photon-number-resolving transition edge sensor. We directly observe that the photon-number distribution evolves with the nonresonant optical excitation power from geometric to quasi-Poissonian statistics, which is canonical for a transition from a thermal to a coherent state. Moreover, the photon-number distribution allows one to evaluate the higher-order photon correlations, shedding further light on the coherence formation and phase transition of the polariton condensate. The experimental data are analyzed in terms of thermal-coherent states, which gives direct access to the thermal and coherent fraction from the measured distributions. These results pave the way for a full understanding of the contribution of interactions in light-matter condensates in the coherence buildup at threshold.
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