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arXiv:2208.12021 · Physical review. D/Physical review. D.

Virtual transitions in an atom-mirror system in the presence of two scalar photons

Ashmita Das, Soham Sen, Sunandan Gangopadhyay

Published Jan 17, 2023• 8 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We examine the virtual transition of an atom-mirror system with the simultaneous emission of two scalar photons, where the atom and the mirror admit a relative acceleration between them. For the single photon emission, the literature [A. A. Svidzinsky et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 071301 (2018)] dictates that the transition probabilities of two individual systems, such as an atom accelerating with respect to the mirror and its reverse, turn out to be equivalent under the exchange of the frequencies of atom and the field. Addressing the observational merit of such excitation process, a detectable probability ($P\ensuremath{\sim}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$) is also reported in the above literature. In the present manuscript our finding dictates that the simultaneous emission of dual photon instead of one, destroys the equivalence between the transition probabilities as reported in the above literature.

DOI
10.1103/physrevd.107.025009

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We examine the virtual transition of an atom-mirror system with the simultaneous emission of two scalar photons, where the atom and the mirror admit a relative acceleration between them. For the single photon emission, the literature [A. A. Svidzinsky et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 071301 (2018)] dictates that the transition probabilities of two individual systems, such as an atom accelerating with respect to the mirror and its reverse, turn out to be equivalent under the exchange of the frequencies of atom and the field. Addressing the observational merit of such excitation process, a detectable probability (P\ensuremath∼10\ensuremath−2P\ensuremath{\sim}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}2}P\ensuremath∼10\ensuremath−2) is also reported in the above literature. In the present manuscript our finding dictates that the simultaneous emission of dual photon instead of one, destroys the equivalence between the transition probabilities as reported in the above literature.
We find that uniformly accelerated motion of a mirror yields excitation of a static two-level atom with simultaneous emission of a real photon. This occurs because of virtual transitions with probability governed by the Planck factor involving the photon frequency ν and the Unruh temperature. The result is different from the Unruh radiation of an accelerated atom, which is governed by the frequency of the atom, ω, rather than frequency of the emitted photon. We also find that the excitation probability oscillates as a function of the atomic position because of interference between contributions from the waves incident on and reflected from the mirror.
We consider two separate atoms interacting with a single-mode optical resonator. When the frequency of the resonator field is twice the atomic transition frequency, we show that there exists a resonant coupling between one photon and two atoms, via intermediate virtual states connected by counter-rotating processes. If the resonator is prepared in its one-photon state, the photon can be jointly absorbed by the two atoms in their ground state which will both reach their excited state with probability close to one. Like ordinary quantum Rabi oscillations, this process is coherent and reversible, so that two atoms in their excited state will undergo a downward transition jointly emitting a single cavity photon. This joint absorption and emission processes can also occur with three atoms. The parameters used to investigate this process correspond to experimentally demonstrated values in circuit quantum electrodynamics systems.
We consider two separate atoms interacting with a single-mode optical or microwave resonator. When the frequency of the resonator field is twice the atomic transition frequency, we show that there exists a resonant coupling between one photon and two atoms, via intermediate virtual states connected by counterrotating processes. If the resonator is prepared in its one-photon state, the photon can be jointly absorbed by the two atoms in their ground state which will both reach their excited state with a probability close to one. Like ordinary quantum Rabi oscillations, this process is coherent and reversible, so that two atoms in their excited state will undergo a downward transition jointly emitting a single cavity photon. This joint absorption and emission process can also occur with three atoms. The parameters used to investigate this process correspond to experimentally demonstrated values in circuit quantum electrodynamics systems.
We evaluate the probability of (de)excitation and photon emission from a neutral, moving, nonrelativistic atom, coupled to the quantum electromagnetic field and in the presence of a thin, perfectly conducting plane (``mirror''). These results extend, to a more realistic model, the ones we had presented for a scalar model, where the would-be electron was described by a scalar variable, coupled to an (also scalar) vacuum field. The latter was subjected to either Dirichlet or Neumann conditions on a plane. In our evaluation of the spontaneous emission rate produced when the accelerated atom is initially in an excited state, we pay attention to its comparison with the somewhat opposite situation, namely, an atom at rest facing a moving mirror.
A theory of two-photon down-conversion in the presence of mirrors is developed and applied to recent observations of Herzog et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 72, 629 (1994)]. The experimentally observed results for counting and coincidence rates as functions of mirror-crystal separations are obtained, and it is shown how the same results may be derived in a simplified formulation that presumes phase-matched signal and idler modes. We account for the observed effects of the finite coherence length of the pump field as well as the signal and idler coherence lengths, which are much shorter than the pump coherence length and have a different physical origin. Our analysis also supports the interpretation of the phenomena observed as being analogous to the modification of single photon spontaneous emission of atoms in cavity QED. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
Abstract In this paper, we present a theoretical investigation of multiphoton processes between a single atom and a multimode optical or microwave field. At first, we examine two-photon excitation, which involves the simultaneous excitation of two photons in different cavity modes by a single atom. We demonstrate that when the transition frequency of an atom is equal to the sum of the frequencies of two cavity modes, there exists a resonant coupling between the atom and the two-mode cavity field, which leads to the simultaneous excitation of the two cavity photons with the atom initially in its excited state. Moreover, we found that this coupling is coherent and reversible, allowing the atom initially in the ground state to simultaneously absorb all the photons from the cavities and transit to its excited state. Finally, we also show that this coherent interaction, in principle, can be extended to describe multiphoton processes between a single atom and a multimode cavity field, such as a three-mode cavity. The parameters used in the numerical simulation are based on the experimentally demonstrated values in circuit quantum electrodynamics systems.