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Physical Review A

Polarium model: Coherent radiation by a resonant medium

Sudhakar Prasad, Roy J. Glauber

Published May 17, 2000• 53 citations

Abstract

In the absence of incoherent relaxation processes, the emission, absorption, and transport of resonant radiation by an extended medium are all cooperative processes in which the medium participates as a whole. Such radiative processes depend sensitively on the geometry of the source, on its size and density, and on the interplay of electric polarization resonances with the ambient electromagnetic field. By making a succession of simple approximations, we reduce the radiative interaction problem to one of solving a linear integral equation for the time-dependent polarization of the radiating medium. For the example of one-dimensional geometry, we show that the polarization possesses a sequence of exponentially decaying eigenmodes that oscillate at frequencies slightly shifted from that of the fundamental resonance. Only a few of these modes, for any radiating medium, are strongly coupled to the electromagnetic field, and thereby radiate efficiently. All of the other modes, infinitely many of them, are found to radiate quite slowly, or not at all. We consider in detail the radiation emitted by an arbitrary initial polarization distribution when the electromagnetic field is initially empty. Analytical and numerical results are presented for the time-dependent fields that follow from a wide variety of initial excitations. A locally oscillatory exchange of energy is found to take place between the electric and polarization fields, which gives rise to a ringing of the radiated intensity. The spectra of the emitted light are shown accordingly to be complex in structure, and to have a frequency gap which becomes independent of the size of the medium and its initial polarization distribution for media that are sufficiently large. The gap is caused by the interference and interaction of oppositely propagating excitations.

DOI: 10.1103/physreva.61.063814

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Short Pulses of Normal Modes of Electromagnetically Induced Transparency

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Polarium model: Reflection and transmission of coherent radiation

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The coherent, radiative excitation modes of a resonant medium lend a resonant character to the amplitudes for reflection and transmission of light. For a plane wave incident upon a slab-shaped medium of two-level atoms, the reflection and transmission coefficients exhibit sharp peaks and dips as a function of the detuning of the wave from the central atomic resonance frequency. The locations and widths of these resonant features for a normally incident plane wave correspond to the imaginary and real parts, respectively, of the radiative decay constants of the coherent excitation modes of the medium discussed in the preceding paper [Phys. Rev. A 61, 063814 (2000)]. For the case of oblique incidence, generalizations of the modes discussed in the preceding paper are required. The richly detailed, resonant frequency dependence of the reflected and transmitted intensities is shown to depend significantly on the angle of incidence and the polarization of the incident light.

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In order to study the cooperative emission of radiation from an extended system of $N$ two-level atoms, we use the master-equation approach within the Born and Markov approximations. All the properties of the emission of radiation can be deduced from the diagonalization of the coupling matrix $\ensuremath{\Gamma}$, where an element ${\ensuremath{\Gamma}}_{\mathrm{jk}}$ gives the coupling between the atoms labeled $j$ and $k$ via the electromagnetic field. We choose a pencil-shaped volume and study analytically the coupling matrix in the limit for small and large Fresnel numbers. For Fresnel numbers of order unity numerical methods are used. Thus we prove that, for the pencil-shaped geometry, any elaborated model must take into account the interaction of the atoms with the infinity of electromagnetic field modes lying inside two small solid angles about the axis of the largest linear dimension, which we label the $z$ axis. In other words, the intensity of radiation emitted by any atom of the system depends on its position with respect to the others and this "propagation effect" cannot be neglected when interpreting superradiance experiments. For small Fresnel numbers the $z$ dependence predominates, in the opposite case the ($x, y$) dependence does, while for Fresnel numbers of order unity the dependence of all three components must be taken into account. Preliminary calculations are given for which only the $z$ dependence is considered; for Fresnel numbers of magnitude of order unity or smaller, the effect of propagation along the $z$ axis displays large delays for the appearance of superradiance with respect to the time at which the superradiant pulse is maximum when the "propagation effects" are neglected (one-mode model).

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Coherent Optics and Localized Light

Vyacheslav I. Yukalov

Interplay between the effects of coherent radiation and localization of light is analysed. A system of two-level atoms is placed in a medium interacting with electromagnetic field. The matter-light interaction can result in the appearance of a band gap in the spectrum of polariton states. If an atom with a resonance frequency inside the gap is incorporated into such a medium, the atomic spontaneous emission is suppressed, which is termed the localization of light. However, a system of resonance atoms inside the gap can radiate due to their coherent interactions. The peculiarity of the coherent radiation by a system of atoms, under the localization of light for a single atom, is studied.

arXiv:quant-ph/0005113•May 26, 2000•0 citations

In the absence of incoherent relaxation processes, the emission, absorption, and transport of resonant radiation by an extended medium are all cooperative processes in which the medium participates as a whole. Such radiative processes depend sensitively on the geometry of the source, on its size and density, and on the interplay of electric polarization resonances with the ambient electromagnetic field. By making a succession of simple approximations, we reduce the radiative interaction problem to one of solving a linear integral equation for the time-dependent polarization of the radiating medium. For the example of one-dimensional geometry, we show that the polarization possesses a sequence of exponentially decaying eigenmodes that oscillate at frequencies slightly shifted from that of the fundamental resonance. Only a few of these modes, for any radiating medium, are strongly coupled to the electromagnetic field, and thereby radiate efficiently. All of the other modes, infinitely many of them, are found to radiate quite slowly, or not at all. We consider in detail the radiation emitted by an arbitrary initial polarization distribution when the electromagnetic field is initially empty. Analytical and numerical results are presented for the time-dependent fields that follow from a wide variety of initial excitations. A locally oscillatory exchange of energy is found to take place between the electric and polarization fields, which gives rise to a ringing of the radiated intensity. The spectra of the emitted light are shown accordingly to be complex in structure, and to have a frequency gap which becomes independent of the size of the medium and its initial polarization distribution for media that are sufficiently large. The gap is caused by the interference and interaction of oppositely propagating excitations.

Radiation by the atoms of a resonant medium is a cooperative process in which the medium participates as a whole. In two previous papers we treated this problem for the case of a medium having slab geometry, which, under plane-wave excitation, supports coherent waves that propagate in one dimension. We extend the treatment here to the three-dimensional problem, focusing principally on the case of spherical geometry. By regarding the radiation field as a superposition of electric and magnetic multipole fields of different orders, we express it in terms of suitably defined scalar fields. The latter fields possess a sequence of exponentially decaying eigenmodes corresponding to each multipole order. We consider several examples of spherically symmetric initial excitations of a sphere. Small uniformly excited spheres, we find, tend to radiate superradiantly, while the radiation from a large sphere with an initially excited inner core exhibits temporal oscillations that result from the participation of a large number of coherently excited amplitudes in different modes. The frequency spectrum of the emitted radiation possesses a rich structure, including a frequency gap for large spheres and sharply defined and closely spaced peaks caused by the small frequency shifts and even smaller decay rates characteristic of the majority of eigenmodes.

Interplay between the effects of coherent radiation and localization of light is analysed. A system of two–level atoms is placed in a medium interacting with electromagnetic field. The matter–light interaction can result in the appearance of a band gap in the spectrum of polariton states. If an atom with a resonance frequency inside the gap is incorporated into such a medium, the atomic spontaneous emission is suppressed, which is termed the localization of light. However, a system of resonance atoms inside the gap can radiate due to their coherent interactions. The peculiarity of the coherent radiation by a system of atoms, under the localization of light for a single atom, is studied. 1 1 Localization of Light In some cases a medium may possess an electromagnetic band gap where a severe depressions of the photon density of states occurs. One such case

The process of propagation of short probe pulses of electromagnetically induced transparency has been analyzed theoretically in the case of elliptically polarized control radiation. As a model of a resonant medium, a Λ scheme of quantum transitions between the

^{3}{{P}_{0}}

,

^{3}P_{1}^{0}

, and

^{3}{{P}_{2}}

degenerate levels of the 208Pb isotope has been used. The situation in which the probe radiation is rather weak compared to the control radiation has been examined. In this case, the field of the probe pulse can be represented as a sum of the fields of two elliptically polarized pulses that propagate in the medium independently of one another without changing their polarization state, which makes it possible to interpret them as nonstationary normal modes. Numerical simulation has shown that the structure of normal modes depends on the ratio of the width of the spectrum of the input probe pulse to the Doppler frequency broadening of the quantum transition that is resonant to the probe field. If this ratio is small, each mode in the medium is a single pulse similar to the input probe pulse. Under these conditions, the propagation of each normal mode in the medium can be fairly well characterized by the group velocity depending on the intensity and the state of polarization of the control radiation. As this ratio increases, normal modes in the medium initially acquire the shape of a regular decaying train of pulses, and then their structure becomes chaotic. The described evolution is accompanied by an increase in the energy absorption of the probe radiation by the medium and by a significant deterioration in the applicability of the notion of group velocity for describing the propagation process of normal modes.

The coherent, radiative excitation modes of a resonant medium lend a resonant character to the amplitudes for reflection and transmission of light. For a plane wave incident upon a slab-shaped medium of two-level atoms, the reflection and transmission coefficients exhibit sharp peaks and dips as a function of the detuning of the wave from the central atomic resonance frequency. The locations and widths of these resonant features for a normally incident plane wave correspond to the imaginary and real parts, respectively, of the radiative decay constants of the coherent excitation modes of the medium discussed in the preceding paper [Phys. Rev. A 61, 063814 (2000)]. For the case of oblique incidence, generalizations of the modes discussed in the preceding paper are required. The richly detailed, resonant frequency dependence of the reflected and transmitted intensities is shown to depend significantly on the angle of incidence and the polarization of the incident light.

In order to study the cooperative emission of radiation from an extended system of

N

two-level atoms, we use the master-equation approach within the Born and Markov approximations. All the properties of the emission of radiation can be deduced from the diagonalization of the coupling matrix $\ensuremath{\Gamma}$, where an element ${\ensuremath{\Gamma}}_{\mathrm{jk}}$ gives the coupling between the atoms labeled

j

and

k

via the electromagnetic field. We choose a pencil-shaped volume and study analytically the coupling matrix in the limit for small and large Fresnel numbers. For Fresnel numbers of order unity numerical methods are used. Thus we prove that, for the pencil-shaped geometry, any elaborated model must take into account the interaction of the atoms with the infinity of electromagnetic field modes lying inside two small solid angles about the axis of the largest linear dimension, which we label the

z

axis. In other words, the intensity of radiation emitted by any atom of the system depends on its position with respect to the others and this "propagation effect" cannot be neglected when interpreting superradiance experiments. For small Fresnel numbers the

z

dependence predominates, in the opposite case the (

x, y

) dependence does, while for Fresnel numbers of order unity the dependence of all three components must be taken into account. Preliminary calculations are given for which only the

z

dependence is considered; for Fresnel numbers of magnitude of order unity or smaller, the effect of propagation along the

z

axis displays large delays for the appearance of superradiance with respect to the time at which the superradiant pulse is maximum when the "propagation effects" are neglected (one-mode model).

Interplay between the effects of coherent radiation and localization of light is analysed. A system of two-level atoms is placed in a medium interacting with electromagnetic field. The matter-light interaction can result in the appearance of a band gap in the spectrum of polariton states. If an atom with a resonance frequency inside the gap is incorporated into such a medium, the atomic spontaneous emission is suppressed, which is termed the localization of light. However, a system of resonance atoms inside the gap can radiate due to their coherent interactions. The peculiarity of the coherent radiation by a system of atoms, under the localization of light for a single atom, is studied.