We have observed a fluctuation-dissipation relation in a photon Bose-Einstein condensate coupled to a particle reservoir. The study that supports our findings has been published in Physical Review Letters.
For equilibrium systems, the magnitude of thermal fluctuations is closely linked to the dissipative response to external perturbations. This fluctuation-dissipation relation has been described for material particles in a wide range of fields. Here, we experimentally probe the relation between the number fluctuations and the response function for a Bose-Einstein condensate of photons coupled to a dye reservoir, demonstrating the fluctuation-dissipation relation for a quantum gas of light. The observed agreement of the scale factor with the environment temperature both directly confirms the thermal nature of the optical condensate and demonstrates the validity of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem for a Bose-Einstein condensate.
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