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Journal of physics. A, Proceedings of the Physical Society. General

Generalized nonrelativistic Lamb-shift theory

R. Bullough, P. J. Caudrey

Published May 1, 1971• 10 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Reports a natural all-order decorrelation procedure for the interaction of a single two-level atom with all modes of the radiation field which replaces the semiclassical boson approximation for the atom by an exact fermion treatment. In consequence, the spontaneous emission of the semiclassical theory is extended to include stimulated emission, a semiclassical Lamb-type shift is explicitly replaced by a shift satisfying the Bethe formula manifestly due to vacuum fluctuations, and there can be two intensity-dependent terms, one of which generalizes the Bethe formula.

DOI
10.1088/0305-4470/4/3/001

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Reports a natural all-order decorrelation procedure for the interaction of a single two-level atom with all modes of the radiation field which replaces the semiclassical boson approximation for the atom by an exact fermion treatment. In consequence, the spontaneous emission of the semiclassical theory is extended to include stimulated emission, a semiclassical Lamb-type shift is explicitly replaced by a shift satisfying the Bethe formula manifestly due to vacuum fluctuations, and there can be two intensity-dependent terms, one of which generalizes the Bethe formula.
A natural all-order decorrelation procedure is described for the interaction of a single two-level atom with all modes of the radiation field which replaces the semi-classical boson approximation for the atom by an exact fermion treatment. In consequence the vacuum Lamb shift appears as twice the Bethe shift for each level separately instead of the limiting neo-classical shift obtained in the Bose theory. Stimulated emission and absorption modify the Einstein A-coefficient and the vacuum shift is extended to include a field dependent shift. The all-order decorrelated perturbation theory yields an equation of motion for the single-atom dipole moment which includes those reported from operator radiation reaction theory recently; but it also generalizes these by including the effects of stimulated processes. The method is extended to a many-atom case in which it becomes necessary to modify the procedure slightly.
An improved form of semiclassical radiation theory is developed which includes the effect of the atom's radiation field back on the atom. This formalism is applied to the problem of a single two-level atom interacting with a monochromatic field. The resulting equations are solved without resorting to time-dependent perturbation theory, and are found to predict the behavior of the system over times long compared with the lifetime for spontaneous transitions. Not only stimulated emission and absorption, but also spontaneous emission with the proper Einstein AAA coefficient, and a frequency shift which agrees at least semiquantitatively with the Lamb shift are described. In addition, several nonlinear effects involving the interference between spontaneous and stimulated radiation are described, and new experiments which might detect such effects are suggested.
An improved form of semiclassical radiation theory is developed which includes the effect of the atom's radiation field back on the atom. This formalism is applied to the problem of a single "two-level atom" interacting with a monochromatic field. The resulting equations are solved without resorting to time-dependent perturbation theory, and are found to predict the behavior of the system over times long compared with the lifetime for spontaneous transitions. Not only stimulated emission and absorption, but also spontaneous emission with the proper Einstein AAA coefficient, and a frequency shift which agrees at least semiquantitatively with the Lamb shift are described. In addition, several nonlinear effects involving the interference between spontaneous and stimulated radiation are described, and new experiments which might detect such effects are suggested.
Abstract The atom-field interaction is formulated within the fully quantized-field theory, starting from a detailed analysis of the transformation from the fundamental minimal coupling interaction Hamiltonian to the electric dipole Hamiltonian used extensively in quantum optics. Spontaneous emission, radiative level shifts, and the natural radiative lineshape are treated in both the Schrodinger and Heisenberg pictures, with emphasis on the roles of vacuum field fluctuations, radiation reaction, and the fluctuation-dissipation relation between them. The shortcomings of semiclassical radiation theories are discussed.
A general perturbation procedure is described for writing down the contributions to any order for the probability of a quantum system described by a time-independent Hamiltonian making a transition from an arbitrary initial state to an arbitrary final state. The results are expressed in terms of certain propagators which involve continued fractions, so that some processes are summed to all orders. The general theory is then applied to a single multilevel atom interacting with any number of modes of the electromagnetic field in the electric dipole approximation. The fundamental theory is considered primarily but a detailed discussion is given of spontaneous and stimulated emission. Expressions for the lineshape are derived incorporating the generalized Lamb shifts and damping constants.