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Optics Letters

Very-low-temperature behavior of a micromaser

Pierre Meystre, Gerhard Rempe, HERBERT WALTHER

Published Dec 1, 1988• 232 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We show that at very low temperatures the steady-state photon statistics of the micromaser are stronglv influenced by the existence of trapping states. The resulting resonances are a true quantum effect resulting from the granulated character of the electromagnetic field.
DOI
10.1364/ol.13.001078

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Trapping states in the one-atom maser or micromaser are predicted by maser theory and are a direct consequence of the quantization of the electromagnetic field. They have been found in our experiment when the inversion of atoms leaving the cavity is observed while the interaction time is scanned. They correspond to quantum states of the atom-cavity system and under certain conditions represent Fock states. The trapping states occur when the atom-field dynamics complete a full evolution (or multiples thereof). Owing to feedback through the maser dynamics, a stabilization of the photon number in the steady state field of the maser cavity is achieved.

Physical Review Letters•May 10, 1999•251 citations
Quantum interference effects are theoretically investigated in the steady-state photon statistics of single-mode Λ- and V-type micromasers with injected three-level atoms in a superposition of their internal states. The two lower (upper) levels are nondegenerate and coherent in a general case. For the Λ-type case, we have discussed how detunings affect the photon statistics of the noninversion micromaser. Under the proper conditions strongly sub-Poissonian field states with a large number of photons can be easily produced in this novel micromaser even if there exists no coherence between the two lower levels. For the V-type case, we have analysed how the photon statistics changes with the increase of the ground-state population. Although the generation of the strongly sub-Poissonian states is always possible in the micromaser under the noninversion case, their photon intensities become very weak compared to the Λ-type case. Our results indicate that it is perfectly possible to experimentally realize a noninversion micromaser with strongly sub-Poissonian statistics in the Λ-type system.
A distinctive signature of the granulated nature of the electromagnetic field is the revivals known to occur in the dynamics of a two-level atom interacting with a single-field mode (Jaynes-Cummings model). The development of high-Q single-mode cavities combined with progress in Rydberg atom spectroscopy has led to a possibility of verifying these predictions. Revival experiments using micromasers have been performed by Walther et al. Here the cavity mode is first allowed to reach a steady state, and then probe atoms are injected into the resonator. By measuring their state as they exit the cavity, one can infer the state of the field. We show that the micromaser experiences Jaynes-Cummingslike revivals when the pump parameter θ is varied. However, in contrast to the conventional Jaynes-Cummings situation, which considers initially coherent fields, the micromaser photon statistics are usually not Poissonian and depend sensitively on θ. The micromaser revivals cannot be explained by a semiclassical theory or linearized quantum fluctuations about the semiclassical solution. Rather, an exact quantum treatment, considering fully the granularity of the cavity mode, is required.
Trapping states in the one-atom maser or micromaser are predicted by maser theory and are a direct consequence of the quantization of the electromagnetic field. They have been found in our experiment when the inversion of atoms leaving the cavity is observed while the interaction time is scanned. They correspond to quantum states of the atom-cavity system and under certain conditions represent Fock states. The trapping states occur when the atom-field dynamics complete a full evolution (or multiples thereof). Owing to feedback through the maser dynamics, a stabilization of the photon number in the steady state field of the maser cavity is achieved.