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Physical Review A

Quantum interference in a driven two-level atom

Z. Ficek, Terry Rudolph

Published Dec 1, 1999• 44 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We show that a dynamical suppression of spontaneous emission, predicted for a three-level atom [S.-Y. Zhu and M. O. Scully, Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 388 (1996)] can occur in a two-level atom driven by a polychromatic field. We find that the quantum interference, responsible for the cancellation of spontaneous emission, appears between different channels of transitions among the dressed states of the driven atom. We discuss the effect for bichromatic and trichromatic (amplitude-modulated) fields and find that these two cases lead to the cancellation of spontaneous emission in different parts of the fluorescence spectrum. Our system has the advantage of being easily accessible by current experiments.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.60.r4245

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We show that a dynamical suppression of spontaneous emission, predicted for a three-level atom [S.-Y. Zhu and M. O. Scully, Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 388 (1996)] can occur in a two-level atom driven by a polychromatic field. We find that the quantum interference, responsible for the cancellation of spontaneous emission, appears between different channels of transitions among the dressed states of the driven atom. We discuss the effect for bichromatic and trichromatic (amplitude-modulated) fields and find that these two cases lead to the cancellation of spontaneous emission in different parts of the fluorescence spectrum. Our system has the advantage of being easily accessible by current experiments.
The modification of the spontaneous emission spectrum has been studied in this paper in a four-level doubly driven N-type atomic system. In the presence of two coherent fields, emphasis has been given to studying the spectral distribution of spontaneous emission in the relaxation process of the initially prepared excited level. The phenomenon of quantum interference dynamically induced in the system by these fields can significantly change the spontaneous emission spectrum. We have shown the emergence of a two-peak spectrum where two widely separated symmetric peaks are associated with a sharp dark line at their mid-position. At different dynamic conditions, we have also shown that two symmetric peaks may appear in the spectrum with an extended dark zone between them. Depending on the values of the Rabi frequencies and the detunings of the external fields, one can achieve a large enhancement of very narrow spectral components within the spontaneous emission line shape under different conditions. The phenomenon of suppression of spectral line and the selective cancellation of spontaneous emission have also been discussed. The results shown in various cases are analysed by considering all possible dressed states corresponding to the bare state model. The influence of collision-induced effects on the spontaneous emission spectrum is investigated as a conditional case.
We discuss quantum interference effects in the resonance fluorescence spectrum of a \ensuremath{\Lambda} three-level atom when the lower-level doublet is driven by a coherent field. The interfering pathways that lead to the same final state involve both spontaneous decays and stimulated transitions, and differ from one another by an odd number of stimulated processes induced by the driving field. As a consequence, the interference structures depend upon the phase of the coherent field, an effect that is absent in other resonance fluorescence phenomena. The phase dependence of the quantum interference contribution is especially significant when the level splitting of the driven doublet is comparable to the spontaneous decay rates of the competing optical paths.
Spontaneous emission can be modified if the atom is driven by an external coherent field. Such modification include the three-peak spectrum of resonance fluorescence from a two level atom. The spectral line elimination and cancellation of spontaneous emission is possible under conditions that the spontaneous emission from an excited atom can be trapped in the upper states without decaying. The amount of fluorescence in this case as well as the population of the upper levels can be controlled. If spontaneous emission along with atomic transition is suppressed, it is possible to create a population in version on this transition by using a very weak incoherent pumping.
It has been shown recently [see, for example, S.-Y. Zhu and M. O. Scully, Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 388 (1996)] that a dynamical suppression of spontaneous emission can occur in a three-level system when an external field drives transitions between a metastable state and two decaying states. What is unusual in the decay scheme is that the decaying states are coupled directly by the vacuum radiation field. It is shown that the decay dynamics required for total suppression of spontaneous emission necessarily implies that the level scheme is isomorphic to a three-level \ensuremath{\Lambda} system, in which the lower two levels are both metastable and each is coupled to the decaying state. As such, the total suppression of spontaneous emission can be explained in terms of conventional dark states and coherent population trapping.
The quantum trajectories method is illustrated for the resonance fluorescence of a two-level atom driven by a multichromatic field. We discuss the method for the time evolution of the fluorescence intensity in the presence of bichromatic and trichromatic driving fields. We consider the special case wherein one multichromatic field component is strong and resonant with the atomic transition whereas the other components are much weaker and arbitrarily detuned from the atomic resonance. We find that the phase-dependent modulations of the Rabi oscillations, recently observed experimentally [Q. Wu, D. J. Gauthier, and T. W. Mossberg, Phys. Rev. A 49, R1519 (1994)] for the special case when the weaker component of a bichromatic driving field is detuned from the atomic resonance by the strong-field Rabi frequency, appear also for detunings close to the subharmonics of the Rabi frequency. Furthermore, we show that for the atom initially prepared in one of the dressed states of the strong field component the modulations are not sensitive to the phase. We extend the calculations to the case of a trichromatic driving field and find that apart from the modulations of the amplitude there is a modulation of the frequency of the Rabi oscillations. Moreover, the time evolution of the fluorescence intensity depends on the phase regardless of the initial conditions and a phase-dependent suppression of the Rabi oscillations can be observed when the sideband fields are tuned to the subharmonics of the strong-field Rabi frequency.