Dynamics and correlations of a Bose-Einstein condensate of photons

The Tutorial reports recent experimental advances in studies of the dynamics as well as the number and phase correlations of a Bose-Einstein condensed photon gas confined in a high-finesse dye-filled microcavity. Repeated absorption-emission-processes of photons on dye molecules here establish a thermal coupling of the photonic quantum gas to both a heat bath and a particle reservoir comprised of dye molecules. In this way, for the first time Bose-Einstein condensation under grand-canonical statistical ensemble conditions becomes experimentally accessible.