Semiconductor photon Bose-Einstein condensate as a practical light source for range finding

We report the measurement of thermal photon statistics from a semiconductor photon Bose-Einstein condensate operating just above the condensation threshold. We identify a regime where coherent, single-mode emission occurs while still demonstrating significant photon bunching. Taking advantage of the photon bunching, along with the continuous-wave operation and high photon flux, we demonstrate optical range sensing using a photon Bose-Einstein condensate. We characterize the precision of the range measurement and analyze the dependence on the condensate’s pump power and resulting coherence properties.