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Physical Review A

Internal dynamics of multilevel atoms near a vacuum-dielectric interface

J.-Y. Courtois, Jean-Michel Courty, Jerome C. Mertz

Published Mar 1, 1996• 78 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We show how the internal dynamics of a multilevel atom are modified in the vicinity of the interface between a vacuum and a simple or multilayered lossless dielectric medium. Optical Bloch equations are derived, which take into account the modifications of spontaneous emission rates and energy levels experienced by the atom. van der Waals level shifts are evaluated using the method of images for dielectrics. Spontaneous emission rates and radiation patterns are calculated in a simple way using the Lorentz reciprocity theorem. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.53.1862

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The energy–level shifts and the change in the rate of spontaneous emission are calculated for an atom located at a distanceZ from a dielectric half–space. The dielectric is a non–dispersive and non–absorbing medium characterized by a constant real refractive indexn. The explicit analytic formulae derived are applicable for arbitrary values ofn. All results are analysed in the non-retarded and retarded limits, which apply to the atom being close to or far from the interface, respectively, i.e. toZ being small or large on the scale of a wavelength of a typical atomic transition. For ground-state atoms, the energy–level shift varies as 1/Z3 in the non–retarded regime and as 1/Z4 in the retarded regime, which agrees with the Casimir–Polder result for the limitn→α. For excited–state atoms, the energy–level shifts receive additional contributions that oscillate with the distanceZ from the interface.
Spontaneous emission of an atom with two close upper levels and one lower level in a multilayer dielectric medium, and quantum interference between transitions from the upper levels to the lower one, are considered. Since the medium is inhomogeneous along the direction normal to the interfaces of the dielectric layers, the vacuum has an anisotropic spatial structure, and quantum intereference between the two decay channels can appear even if the two dipole matrix elements are orthogonal to each other. If the atom is placed in a three-layer dielectric plate cavity, a strong quantum interference similar to that for an atom with two nearly parallel dipole moments in free space arises due to the influence of anisotropic vacuum. Putting the atom in a three-layer dielectric waveguide and a one-dimensional photonic crystal, there appears a strong quantum interference similar to that for an atom with nearly antiparallel dipole moments.