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Physical Review A

Canonical formalism and quantization for a class of classical fields with application to radiative atomic decay in dielectrics

A. Tip

Published Dec 1, 1997• 48 citations
Publisher

Abstract

For the description of spectral and radiative decay properties of atoms or molecules, placed in a photonic material, the electromagnetic field in the material must be quantized and active research is taking place in this area. Here a unified account is given of such quantization procedures. Led by the Maxwell example, we consider the canonical formalism and its quantization for a class of linear evolution equations ${\ensuremath{\partial}}_{t}F=NF\ensuremath{-}G$, obeying a conservation law for $G=0$. If $N$ has a nonempty null space (zero is an eigenvalue with associated nonpropagating solutions), an abstract form of the gauge concept makes its appearance and generalizations of the familiar Coulomb and Lorentz gauges are obtained. A canonical formalism is set up and quantized. The application to spatially inhomogeneous nonconducting electrodynamical systems is immediate, including the interaction with matter. Next atomic decay in a medium is considered, in particular in the presence of band gaps. For a simple two-level model with transition frequency in the gap, single-photon decay is inhibited and also a different stable eigenvalue of the combined system is found. An open problem in connection with random dielectrics, showing Anderson localization, is discussed. Finally, a mass renormalization, by means of a Kramers transformation, is presented. In general, the renormalized mass is no longer a scalar quantity.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.56.5022

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For the description of spectral and radiative decay properties of atoms or molecules, placed in a photonic material, the electromagnetic field in the material must be quantized and active research is taking place in this area. Here a unified account is given of such quantization procedures. Led by the Maxwell example, we consider the canonical formalism and its quantization for a class of linear evolution equations \ensuremath∂tF=NF\ensuremath−G{\ensuremath{\partial}}_{t}F=NF\ensuremath{-}G\ensuremath∂t​F=NF\ensuremath−G, obeying a conservation law for G=0G=0G=0. If NNN has a nonempty null space (zero is an eigenvalue with associated nonpropagating solutions), an abstract form of the gauge concept makes its appearance and generalizations of the familiar Coulomb and Lorentz gauges are obtained. A canonical formalism is set up and quantized. The application to spatially inhomogeneous nonconducting electrodynamical systems is immediate, including the interaction with matter. Next atomic decay in a medium is considered, in particular in the presence of band gaps. For a simple two-level model with transition frequency in the gap, single-photon decay is inhibited and also a different stable eigenvalue of the combined system is found. An open problem in connection with random dielectrics, showing Anderson localization, is discussed. Finally, a mass renormalization, by means of a Kramers transformation, is presented. In general, the renormalized mass is no longer a scalar quantity.
After giving an outline of the quantization scheme based on the microscopic Hopfield model of a dielectric bulk material, we show how the classical phenomenological Maxwell equations of the electromagnetic field in the presence of dielectric matter of given space- and frequency-dependent complex permittivity can be transferred to quantum theory. Including in the theory the interaction of the medium-assisted field with atomic systems, we present both the minimal-coupling Hamiltonian and the multipolar-coupling Hamiltonian in the Coulomb gauge. To illustrate the concept, we discuss the input--output relations of radiation and the transformation of radiation-field quantum states at absorbing four-port devices, and the spontaneous decay of an excited atom near the surface of an absorbing body and in a spherical micro-cavity with intrinsic material losses. Finally, we give an extension of the quantization scheme to other media such as amplifying media, magnetic media, and nonlinear media.
A quantization scheme for the phenomenological Maxwell theory of the full electromagnetic field in an inhomogeneous three-dimensional, dispersive, and absorbing dielectric medium is developed. The classical Maxwell equations with spatially varying and Kramers-Kronig consistent permittivity are regarded as operator-valued field equations, introducing additional current- and charge-density operator fields in order to take into account the noise associated with the dissipation in the medium. It is shown that the equal-time commutation relations between the fundamental electromagnetic fields $\mathbf{E}^$ and $\mathbf{B}^$ and the potentials $\mathbf{A}^$ and $\stackrel{^}{\ensuremath{\varphi}}$ in the Coulomb gauge can be expressed in terms of the Green tensor of the classical problem. From the Green tensors for bulk material and an inhomogeneous medium consisting of two bulk dielectrics with a common planar interface it is explicitly proven that the well-known equal-time commutation relations of QED are preserved.
The electromagnetic field is quantized in a material whose dielectric function varies with frequency and one spatial dimension. The dielectric function is assumed to have a known form and to be real over the range of frequencies important for a particular application, for example the propagation of an optical signal. General properties of the mode functions are derived and employed in the quantization procedure. Expressions are obtained for the energy and momentum density and current operators, and these are shown to satisfy the appropriate conservation and continuity relations. The general formalism is illustrated by application to the examples of a homogeneous dielectric and two different dielectrics with a sharp interface.
We present a fully canonical quantization scheme for the electromagnetic field in dispersive and lossy linear dielectrics. This scheme is based on a microscopic model, in which the medium is represented by a collection of interacting matter fields. We calculate the exact eigenoperators for the coupled system and express the electromagnetic field operators in terms of them. The dielectric constant of the medium is explicitly derived and is shown to satisfy the Kramers-Kronig relations. We apply these results to treat the propagation of light in dielectrics and obtain simple expressions for the electromagnetic field in the medium in terms of space-dependent creation and annihilation operators. These operators satisfy a set of equal-space commutation relations and obey spatial Langevin equations of evolution. This justifies the use of such operators in phenomenological models in quantum optics. We also obtain two interesting relationships between the group and the phase velocity in dielectrics.
A general theory of the interaction of the quantized electromagnetic field with atoms, in the presence of dispersing and absorbing dielectric bodies of given Kramers-Kronig consistent permittivities, is developed. It is based on a source-quantity representation of the electromagnetic field, in which the electromagnetic-field operators are expressed in terms of a continuous set of fundamental bosonic fields via the Green tensor of the classical problem. Introducing scalar and vector potentials, the formalism is extended to include in the theory the interaction of the quantized electromagnetic field with additional atoms. Both the minimal-coupling scheme and the multipolar-coupling scheme are considered. The theory replaces the standard concept of mode decomposition, which fails for complex permittivities. It enables us to treat the effects of dispersion and absorption in a consistent way and to give a unified approach to the atom-field interaction, without any restriction to a particular interaction regime in a particular frequency range. All relevant information about the dielectric bodies, such as form and intrinsic dispersion and absorption, is contained in the Green tensor. The application of the theory to the spontaneous decay of an excited atom in the presence of dispersing and absorbing bodies is addressed.
A system of nonrelativistic charged particles and radiation is canonically quantized in the Coulomb gauge and Maxwell's equations in quantum electrodynamics are derived. By requiring form invariance of the Schrodinger equation under a space and time dependent unitary transformation, operator gauge transformations on the quantized electromagnetic potentials and state vectors are introduced. These gauge transformed potentials have the same form as gauge transformations in non-Abelian gauge field theories. A gauge-invariant method for solving the time-dependent Schrodinger equation in quantum electrodynamics is given. Maxwell's equations are written in a form which holds in all gauges and which has formal similarity to the equations of motion of non-Abelian gauge fields. A gauge-invariant derivation of conservation of energy in quantum electrodynamics is given. An operator gauge transformation is made to the multipolar gauge in which the potentials are expressed in terms of the electromagnetic fields. The multipolar Hamiltonian is shown to be the minimally coupled Hamiltonian with the electromagnetic potentials in the multipolar gauge. The model of a charged harmonic oscillator in a single-mode electromagnetic field is considered as an example. The gauge-invariant procedure for solving the time-dependent Schrodinger equation is used to obtain the gauge-invariant probabilities that the oscillator is in an energy eigenstate For comparison, the conventional approach is also used to solve the harmonic oscillator problem and is shown to give gauge-dependent amplitudes.