Macroscopic Embodiment of the Maser Principle

Bell Telephone Laboratories, Henry E. Breed

P. Filipowicz, Juha Javanainen, Pierre Meystre

Daan M. Arroo, Neil McN. Alford, Jonathan Breeze

The first solid-state masers to operate at room-temperature and ambient air-pressure were recently demonstrated using optically pumped spin-triplet states as the gain medium. In this Perspective, we briefly review the previous state-of-the-art in cryogenic solid-state masers and then discuss the development of the room-temperature solid-state maser: from the organic pentacene pulsed maser to the diamond nitrogen-vacancy continuous-wave maser. We characterize the operation of these masers as coherent microwave sources and ultra-low noise amplifiers before outlining how they can be adapted to act as model systems in which to explore room-temperature cavity quantum electrodynamics. After discussing challenges facing current embodiments of the room-temperature solid-state maser, we explore how they might be addressed or by-passed altogether through the development of alternative materials and masing mechanisms. Finally, we speculate on how the advent of masers that can operate in ambient conditions might lead to novel applications in metrology and quantum technologies.

Michael Hasler

L. A. Lugiato, Marlan O. Scully, HERBERT WALTHER

We show that the steady-state photon-number distribution of the microscopic maser can be recovered using the standard macroscopic quantum laser theory. We introduce an appropriate limit of weak pump and weak photon damping to make the connection between the microscopic and the macroscopic quantum theory of laser operation. Simple analytic formulas describe the main features of the stationary photon-number distribution in the microscopic maser.