Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Physical Review A

Spontaneous decay of a two-level atom near the left-handed slab

Jingping Xu, Yaping Yang, Qiang Lin, Shi‐Yao Zhu

Published Apr 14, 2009• 33 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Spontaneous decay of a two-level atom near the left-handed material (LHM) slab is investigated. The contributions of the guided modes and the surface-plasmon polariton (SPP) modes supported by the LHM slab to the spontaneous decay are studied at length. We find that the atomic decay near a LHM slab is much different from that near a dielectric slab or metal slab. The first---the dielectric slab with arbitrary thickness---supports at least two guided modes (one for TE polarized and one for TM polarized), but LHM slab may support none of the guided mode for certain thickness. The second---the atom near the LHM slab---may decay through both TE- and TM-polarized SPP, but the atom near the metal slab can decay only through TM-polarized SPP. The third, when the LHM slab supports only TE-polarized SPP modes, the atom near such slab cannot couple to the SPP mode when its dipole moment is perpendicular to the interface. Even if LHM contains weak loss, above analysis is also valid, and the decay rate directly related to material's losses (defined by the decay through dissipation here) can be distinguished from the total decay rate. Most interesting, we find that the decay through SPP will be larger than the decay through dissipation when the atom is placed at an appropriate position. Our results will give constructive reference to the design and fabrication of the quantum device made of LHM.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.79.043812

Related papers

Spontaneous emission interference enhancement with a μ -negative metamaterial slab

Xiaodong Zeng, Jingping Xu, Yaping Yang

The spontaneous decay and quantum interference of a $\mathsf{V}$-type Zeeman atom placed near a $\ensuremath{\mu}$-negative metamaterial (MNG) slab are investigated. Based on the fact that MNG slab supports only TE-polarized surface-plasmon polariton (SPP) modes, the decay rate of the dipole component parallel to the interface would be much larger than that normal to the interface, because one can couple while another decouple to TE modes. Consequently, high-level anisotropic environment is created and the two dipoles can interfere with each other strongly by sharing such SPP modes even if they are orthogonal. In our work, we analyze the influence of the parameters of the MNG slab as well as the atomic location on the interference intensity in detail. In addition, the dissipation of the slab is considered, and the quantum interference is still excellent even with large absorption.

Physical Review A•Sep 19, 2011•20 citations

Spontaneous decay process of a two-level atom embedded in a one-dimensional structure containing left-handed material

Jing-Ping Xu, Ya-Ping Yang, Chen Hong +1 more

The spontaneous decay process of a two-level atom embedded in a one-dimensional structure containing left-handed material (LHM) is investigated. We first consider the case of the atom being in front of a LHM layer mounted on a mirror, where it has been claimed that the atomic decay would be inhibited completely. Here we introduce dispersion and dissipation in the LHM, and find that there are two factors that weaken the inhibition of spontaneous decay. One is atomic nonradiative decay at shorter distances and the other is the instantaneous radiative decay process for larger distances. Then we discuss the decay process of an atom embedded in a one-dimensional photonic crystal composed of alternate LHM and ordinary material [right-handed material (RHM)] layers (LHM-RHM PC). Because of two special characteristics of the LHM, phase compensation and the fact that a frequency with negative index is usual near the material resonance frequency, both the radiative and nonradiative decay processes in the LHM-RHM PC are much different from those in a RHM PC. Under appropriate condition, the population evolution of atoms in a LHM-RHM PC displays oscillatory behavior.

Physical Review A•Dec 17, 2007•15 citations

Spontaneous emission field excited by an atom near the μ-negative metamaterials slab

Li Qin, Li Ze-Ya, Xu Jing-Ping +2 more

This paper discusses the spontaneous emission field of a two-level atom near a μ-negative metamaterial(MNG) slab, in which the surface modes are excited. the μ-negative metamaterial is a kind of artificial-microstructured materials possessing effective negative permeability and positive permittivity. According to Maxwell's equations and boundary conditions, the MNG slab supports only TE-polarized surface modes.We analyze the properties of the surface mode, i.e.the number of the surface mode and its symmetry or antisymmetry profiles, supported by the MNG slab with different permeability and thickness, and then study the influence of these characteristics on the spatial distribution of the spontaneous emission field in detail. Results show that the distance between the atom and the slab can affect the ratio of surface mode to the total atomic emission field. When the surface mode plays the dominate role, the spontaneous emission field of the atom on the nearest surface of MNG slab are directionally propagating along y-axis if the atomic dipole is along x-axis due to the TE-polarized surface mode. The atomic emission field on the other surface depends on the symmetry of the surface modes and their percentage. If the symmetric and antisymmetric surface modes coexist, the field intensity on the right surface is weakened or even disappears completely, but if there exists only symmetric or antisymmetric surface mode, the field intensity on the right surface is nearly identical with that on the left surface. These phenomena are significantly different from the case of atoms near a metal slab or a dielectric slab. Our results are useful for the controllable atomic emission and have potential application to the single-photon source.

Acta Physica Sinica•Jan 1, 2015•0 citations

Quantum interference between Zeeman levels near structures made of left-handed materials and matched zero-index metamaterials

Ge Song, Jingping Xu, Yaping Yang

Quantum interference between Zeeman levels of atom placed in the structure containing left-handed materials (LHMs) and zero-index metamaterials (ZIMs) is investigated. Because of the existence of the LHM and ZIM, dipole radiation becomes highly anisotropic which is embodied by the high contrast between decay rates of the dipole component parallel to the surface and that normal to the surface. Furthermore, both decay rates are suppressed compared with those in free vacuum. Therefore, we propose the quantum interference between Zeeman levels accompanied by long lifetime. Two structures are designed to achieve such purpose. For the idealized LHM and ZIM without dissipation, a double-layer structure comprised of them is the right candidate. However, when we consider the dissipation of materials, a Fabry-P\'erot cavity made of matched ZIM slabs and LHM slabs is required. Results show that we get a high degree of quantum interference and low decay rates simultaneously.

Physical Review A•May 27, 2014•8 citations

Spontaneous emission of a two-level atom in one dimensional LHM-RHM photonic crystals (Invited Paper)

Shi-Yao Zhu, Nian-hua Liu, Jing Xu

We investigate the spontaneous emission of a two-level atom in one dimensional photonic crystals composed of left-hand material (LHM) and right-hand material (RHM). A complete set of mode functions is constructed for the quantization of the radiation field. It is found that the mode functions for the frequency with in the band gap decreases exponentially from the surface to the interior of the photonic crystal which results in a much weaker field than the vacuum in the free space. The depression of the field leads to weak interaction with the atom, which leads to the suppressed spontaneous emission. Due to the strong reflection, the field in the LHM-RHM structure is much weaker than that in the RHM-RHM structure, thus the spontaneous emission is more strongly suppressed.

Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE•May 23, 2005•0 citations

Dynamic evolution of an excited atom near the left-handed slab acted by the Casimir-Polder force

Moe Key

Influence of the Casimir-Polder force on a slowly moving atom near a left-handed slab is discussed.We focus on an initially excited atom and its dynamic evolution during the spontaneous decay process.The left-haned slab is adopted based on two factors:(1) It provides a relatively stronger Casimir-Polder force on the excited atom far away from the interface,and(2) it can lead to an inhibited spontaneous decay rate within such a region.Therefore,we can discuss the dynamic evolution of atoms acted only by the Casimir-Polder force.The dynamic evolution discussed here includes both the evolution of atomic population and the atomic displacement.As the Casimir-Polder force depends on the atomic population,while the decay rate is related to the atomic positions,the atomic dynamic evolution is determined by its initial conditions,i.e.its position and volecity.We choose two initial positions for discussion,i.e.(1) the position with the maximum resonant Casimir-Polder force,and(2) the edge of the resonant Casimir-Polder force of the atom with dipole parallel to the interface.Furthermore,we also consider two kinds of orientations of atomic dipole,i.e.parallel and normal to the interface.It is found that the atom can be repulsed away from a surface by the Casimir-Polder force with a proper initial velocity in certain dipole orientaion during the sponatneous decay process.As the atomic dynamics depends on the orientation of the atom dipole momentum,our result can be used as a reference to distinguish atoms with different dipole momenta.Though the force discussed here exists during the spontaneous decay process,it is much different from the recoil force of the atom when it emits a photon during the spontaneous decay.The statistical average of the recoil force is null,but that of the resonant Casimir-Polder force is not.After reasonable estimation,such a Casimir-Polder force can counteract the thermal fluctuation of temperature of 15 μK during sponatneous decay.If combined with other constraint methods,it is helpful to control the dynamics of an atom more efficiently.

Acta Physica Sinica•Jan 1, 2015•0 citations
Spontaneous decay of a two-level atom near the left-handed material (LHM) slab is investigated. The contributions of the guided modes and the surface-plasmon polariton (SPP) modes supported by the LHM slab to the spontaneous decay are studied at length. We find that the atomic decay near a LHM slab is much different from that near a dielectric slab or metal slab. The first---the dielectric slab with arbitrary thickness---supports at least two guided modes (one for TE polarized and one for TM polarized), but LHM slab may support none of the guided mode for certain thickness. The second---the atom near the LHM slab---may decay through both TE- and TM-polarized SPP, but the atom near the metal slab can decay only through TM-polarized SPP. The third, when the LHM slab supports only TE-polarized SPP modes, the atom near such slab cannot couple to the SPP mode when its dipole moment is perpendicular to the interface. Even if LHM contains weak loss, above analysis is also valid, and the decay rate directly related to material's losses (defined by the decay through dissipation here) can be distinguished from the total decay rate. Most interesting, we find that the decay through SPP will be larger than the decay through dissipation when the atom is placed at an appropriate position. Our results will give constructive reference to the design and fabrication of the quantum device made of LHM.
The spontaneous decay and quantum interference of a V\mathsf{V}V-type Zeeman atom placed near a $\ensuremath{\mu}$-negative metamaterial (MNG) slab are investigated. Based on the fact that MNG slab supports only TE-polarized surface-plasmon polariton (SPP) modes, the decay rate of the dipole component parallel to the interface would be much larger than that normal to the interface, because one can couple while another decouple to TE modes. Consequently, high-level anisotropic environment is created and the two dipoles can interfere with each other strongly by sharing such SPP modes even if they are orthogonal. In our work, we analyze the influence of the parameters of the MNG slab as well as the atomic location on the interference intensity in detail. In addition, the dissipation of the slab is considered, and the quantum interference is still excellent even with large absorption.
The spontaneous decay process of a two-level atom embedded in a one-dimensional structure containing left-handed material (LHM) is investigated. We first consider the case of the atom being in front of a LHM layer mounted on a mirror, where it has been claimed that the atomic decay would be inhibited completely. Here we introduce dispersion and dissipation in the LHM, and find that there are two factors that weaken the inhibition of spontaneous decay. One is atomic nonradiative decay at shorter distances and the other is the instantaneous radiative decay process for larger distances. Then we discuss the decay process of an atom embedded in a one-dimensional photonic crystal composed of alternate LHM and ordinary material [right-handed material (RHM)] layers (LHM-RHM PC). Because of two special characteristics of the LHM, phase compensation and the fact that a frequency with negative index is usual near the material resonance frequency, both the radiative and nonradiative decay processes in the LHM-RHM PC are much different from those in a RHM PC. Under appropriate condition, the population evolution of atoms in a LHM-RHM PC displays oscillatory behavior.
This paper discusses the spontaneous emission field of a two-level atom near a μ-negative metamaterial(MNG) slab, in which the surface modes are excited. the μ-negative metamaterial is a kind of artificial-microstructured materials possessing effective negative permeability and positive permittivity. According to Maxwell's equations and boundary conditions, the MNG slab supports only TE-polarized surface modes.We analyze the properties of the surface mode, i.e.the number of the surface mode and its symmetry or antisymmetry profiles, supported by the MNG slab with different permeability and thickness, and then study the influence of these characteristics on the spatial distribution of the spontaneous emission field in detail. Results show that the distance between the atom and the slab can affect the ratio of surface mode to the total atomic emission field. When the surface mode plays the dominate role, the spontaneous emission field of the atom on the nearest surface of MNG slab are directionally propagating along y-axis if the atomic dipole is along x-axis due to the TE-polarized surface mode. The atomic emission field on the other surface depends on the symmetry of the surface modes and their percentage. If the symmetric and antisymmetric surface modes coexist, the field intensity on the right surface is weakened or even disappears completely, but if there exists only symmetric or antisymmetric surface mode, the field intensity on the right surface is nearly identical with that on the left surface. These phenomena are significantly different from the case of atoms near a metal slab or a dielectric slab. Our results are useful for the controllable atomic emission and have potential application to the single-photon source.
Quantum interference between Zeeman levels of atom placed in the structure containing left-handed materials (LHMs) and zero-index metamaterials (ZIMs) is investigated. Because of the existence of the LHM and ZIM, dipole radiation becomes highly anisotropic which is embodied by the high contrast between decay rates of the dipole component parallel to the surface and that normal to the surface. Furthermore, both decay rates are suppressed compared with those in free vacuum. Therefore, we propose the quantum interference between Zeeman levels accompanied by long lifetime. Two structures are designed to achieve such purpose. For the idealized LHM and ZIM without dissipation, a double-layer structure comprised of them is the right candidate. However, when we consider the dissipation of materials, a Fabry-P\'erot cavity made of matched ZIM slabs and LHM slabs is required. Results show that we get a high degree of quantum interference and low decay rates simultaneously.
We investigate the spontaneous emission of a two-level atom in one dimensional photonic crystals composed of left-hand material (LHM) and right-hand material (RHM). A complete set of mode functions is constructed for the quantization of the radiation field. It is found that the mode functions for the frequency with in the band gap decreases exponentially from the surface to the interior of the photonic crystal which results in a much weaker field than the vacuum in the free space. The depression of the field leads to weak interaction with the atom, which leads to the suppressed spontaneous emission. Due to the strong reflection, the field in the LHM-RHM structure is much weaker than that in the RHM-RHM structure, thus the spontaneous emission is more strongly suppressed.
Influence of the Casimir-Polder force on a slowly moving atom near a left-handed slab is discussed.We focus on an initially excited atom and its dynamic evolution during the spontaneous decay process.The left-haned slab is adopted based on two factors:(1) It provides a relatively stronger Casimir-Polder force on the excited atom far away from the interface,and(2) it can lead to an inhibited spontaneous decay rate within such a region.Therefore,we can discuss the dynamic evolution of atoms acted only by the Casimir-Polder force.The dynamic evolution discussed here includes both the evolution of atomic population and the atomic displacement.As the Casimir-Polder force depends on the atomic population,while the decay rate is related to the atomic positions,the atomic dynamic evolution is determined by its initial conditions,i.e.its position and volecity.We choose two initial positions for discussion,i.e.(1) the position with the maximum resonant Casimir-Polder force,and(2) the edge of the resonant Casimir-Polder force of the atom with dipole parallel to the interface.Furthermore,we also consider two kinds of orientations of atomic dipole,i.e.parallel and normal to the interface.It is found that the atom can be repulsed away from a surface by the Casimir-Polder force with a proper initial velocity in certain dipole orientaion during the sponatneous decay process.As the atomic dynamics depends on the orientation of the atom dipole momentum,our result can be used as a reference to distinguish atoms with different dipole momenta.Though the force discussed here exists during the spontaneous decay process,it is much different from the recoil force of the atom when it emits a photon during the spontaneous decay.The statistical average of the recoil force is null,but that of the resonant Casimir-Polder force is not.After reasonable estimation,such a Casimir-Polder force can counteract the thermal fluctuation of temperature of 15 μK during sponatneous decay.If combined with other constraint methods,it is helpful to control the dynamics of an atom more efficiently.