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arXiv:1112.1621

Enhanced lifetime of positronium atoms via collective radiative effects

Cui, Ni, Mihai Macovei, Karen Z. Hatsagortsyan, Christoph H. Keitel

Published Dec 7, 2011• 0 citations
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Abstract

A method is proposed to manipulate the annihilation dynamics of a dense gas of positronium atoms employing superradiance and subradiance regimes of the cooperative spontaneous emission of the system. The annihilation dynamics is controlled by the gas density and by the intensity of the driving strong resonant laser field. In particular, the method allows to increase the annihilation lifetime of an ensemble of positronium atoms more than hundred times by trapping the atoms in the excited state via collective radiative effects in the resonant laser and cavity fields.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1112.1621

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A method is proposed to manipulate the annihilation dynamics of a dense gas of positronium atoms employing superradiance and subradiance regimes of the cooperative spontaneous emission of the system. The annihilation dynamics is controlled by the gas density and by the intensity of the driving strong resonant laser field. In particular, the method allows to increase the annihilation lifetime of an ensemble of positronium atoms more than hundred times by trapping the atoms in the excited state via collective radiative effects in the resonant laser and cavity fields.
A method is investigated to manipulate the annihilation dynamics of a dense gas of positronium atoms employing superradiance and subradiance regimes of the cooperative spontaneous emission of the system. The corresponding annihilation dynamics is explored in two setups with regard to its fundamental novel properties and controlled by the gas density and by the intensity of a driving strong resonant laser field. In particular, the method allows us to increase the annihilation lifetime of an ensemble of positronium atoms by trapping the atoms in the excited state via collective radiative effects in the resonant laser field. In the second setup, the effect is enhanced by employing a cavity field. The maximum lifetime increase is by a factor of about 200 for para-positronium and by a factor of about 100 for ortho-positronium.
We show that the annihilation dynamics of excited positronium (Ps) atoms can be controlled using parallel electric and magnetic fields. To achieve this, Ps atoms were optically excited to n=2 sublevels in fields that were adjusted to control the amount of short-lived and long-lived character of the resulting mixed states. Inclusion of the former offers a practical approach to detection via annihilation radiation, whereas the increased lifetimes due to the latter can be exploited to optimize resonance-enhanced two-photon excitation processes (e.g., 1^{3}S→2^{3}P→nS/nD), either by minimizing losses through intermediate state decay, or by making it possible to separate the excitation laser pulses in time. In addition, photoexcitation of mixed states with a 2^{3}S_{1} component represents an efficient route to producing long-lived pure 2^{3}S_{1} atoms via single-photon excitation.
When atoms are coupled to a common electromagnetic environment, the exchange of photons through dipole-dipole interactions leads to the emergence of cooperative effects. As a particular example, superradiance arises from spontaneous emission when this exchange leads to constructive interference of the emitted photons. Here, we introduce an integrated method for studying cooperative radiation in many-body systems. This method, which allows to study extended systems with arbitrarily large number of particles, can be formulated by an effective, nonlinear, two-atom master equation that describes the dynamics using a closed form which treats single- and many-body terms on an equal footing. We apply this method to a homogeneous gas of initially inverted two-level atoms, and demonstrate the appearance of both superradiance and subradiance, identifying a many-body coherence term as the source of these cooperative effects. We describe the many-body induced broadening -- which is analytically found to scale with the optical depth of the system -- and light shifts, and distinguish spontaneous effects from induced ones. In addition, we theoretically predict the time-dependence of subradiance, and the phase change of the radiated field during the cooperative decay.
Coherent control of collective spontaneous emission in an extended atomic ensemble resonantly interacting with single-photon wave packets is analyzed. A scheme for coherent manipulation of collective atomic states is developed such that superradiant states of the atomic system can be converted into subradiant ones and vice versa. Possible applications of such a scheme for optical quantum-state storage and single-photon wave packet shaping are discussed. It is shown that also in the absence of inhomogeneous broadening of the resonant line, single-photon wave packets with arbitrary pulse shape may be recorded as a subradiant state and reconstructed even although the duration of the wave packets is larger than the superradiant lifetime. Specifically the applicability for storing time-bin qubits, which are used in quantum cryptography, is analyzed.
The collective spontaneous emission of a pair of two coupled three-level radiators in vacuum is investigated in the presence of a possibly intense laser field. The parameters describing the collective interaction along with the population and decay rates of all involved dressed states are shown to be controllable by the applied laser field. In particular, all populations of the collective system may be transferred at will in a reversible way into a subradiant state, allowing effective storage and manipulation of the quantum system.
Recent work has shown that collective single photon emission from an ensemble of resonate two-level atoms, i.e., single photon superradiance, is a rich field of study. The present Letter addresses the flip side of superradiance, i.e., subradiance. Single photon subradiant states are potentially stable against collective spontaneous emission and can have ultrafast readout. In particular it is shown how many atom collective effects provide a new way to control spontaneous emission by preparing and switching between subradiant and superradiant states.