The problem of the quantum-statistical properties of resonance radiation selectively reflected from unexcited media in the case where the photons are mutually correlated in the incident radiation flux is posed and solved. Allowance for mutual photon correlation precludes, in principle, solving the problem by perturbation methods. A quantum analog of the optical theorem of absorption, which causes an infinite subsequence of Feynman diagrams to vanish, is pointed out. The frequency-angle distribution of the photons in the reflected flux is predicted. The Fresnel formulas are reconstructed for the averaged reflection characteristics. The limits for their applicability in describing the reflection of mutually correlated photons are given. A suppression effect is predicted for the reflection of radiation from a laser source.
The problem of the quantum-statistical properties of resonance radiation selectively reflected from unexcited media in the case where the photons are mutually correlated in the incident radiation flux is posed and solved. Allowance for mutual photon correlation precludes, in principle, solving the problem by perturbation methods. A quantum analog of the optical theorem of absorption, which causes an infinite subsequence of Feynman diagrams to vanish, is pointed out. The frequency-angle distribution of the photons in the reflected flux is predicted. The Fresnel formulas are reconstructed for the averaged reflection characteristics. The limits for their applicability in describing the reflection of mutually correlated photons are given. A suppression effect is predicted for the reflection of radiation from a laser source.
According to quantum electrodynamics, the cross section for resonant scattering of radiation on an aggregate of excited atoms can be written as a sum of positive definite terms. This type of structure is not consistent with the Fresnel formulas for the reflection coefficient of radiation from thermally excited media. The difference shows up on a macroscopic level and indicates that semiclassical radiation theory cannot be used. A study of the correlation between elastic scattering and stimulated emission processes clarifies the reason for the discrepancies. The resulting singularities require summing of Feynman diagrams which appear beginning in the sixth order of perturbation theory. A lower bound estimate for the reflection coefficient from a plane layer is given, including processes which violate the statistics of radiation. The contribution of stimulated emission processes caused by the initially scattered photon are examined specifically. An experiment is proposed which would settle the choice of theories.
It is demonstrated that presence of stimulated radiation processes in gaseous media makes it possible to generate rays inversely reflected from interfaces of thermally excited gaseous media and the processes of left-hand refraction of the rays having passed through these media. These processes are caused by availability of coupled photonic states and stimulated radiation in media the properties of which differ from those of stimulated radiation in vacuum. Estimation of these processes is based on exclusion of the procedure of forced breaking of quantum correlators and correct consideration of high-order correlators. Along with Schrödinger’s and Heisenberg’s representations, this article uses also the less-known Γ- representation, which allows us to reduce a multi-particle problem of quantum electrodynamics to a single-particle problem within the an infinite-dimensional space. The equations formed in Г- representation are mathematically simpler and may be studied using the standard Wick’s theorem rather than its approximated thermodynamic variant suggested by T.A. Matsubara. Therefore it is possible to keep all possible solutions of the initial system of equations in mind. Of course, approximation methods are used for explicit solution of these equations. Using Feynman diagrams instead of the Dyson equation for quantum correlators, it is possible to find an equation defining the complete density matrix of a photonic sub-system.
Under usual laboratory conditions the absorption of a beam of light by a dilute two-level medium depends on the intensity and spectrum of the incident light. If the incident photon flux is small compared to the decay rate of the absorber’s excited state, saturation effects can be neglected and only the spectrum of the light is important; thus, weak-field absorption depends only on the firstorder correlation function of the incident light. This result relies, however, on a requirement that the incident beam cross-section be much larger than the absorption cross-section of an atom. Then individual atoms act as low efficiency scatterers and the statistics of the scattering process is governed by the law of large numbers applied to many scattering sites. In contrast, if it is arranged that just one atom significantly absorbs (scatters) a beam of photons, correlation functions of the incident light beyond the first-order must be considered. For a beam that is focused within an absorption cross-section, we might naively predict that every photon will be scattered and none transmitted. In fact, even for a very weak beam there is a finite probability for two photons to arrive at the atom within the excited state lifetime, and in this event at least one of them will be transmitted (statistical saturation). In this paper we calculate the transmitted photon flux for a weak beam of photons focussed strongly onto a single, resonant two-state atom. We study the dependence of the transmitted flux on the statistics of the incident photons. Photon beams derived from sources of coherent, chaotic, squeezed, coherent-antibunched, and broadband-antibunched light are considered. our calculations are based on a recently developed theory of cascaded open systems,1,2 and serve to illustrate the usefulness of this theory.
The ancient laws developed by Snell, Bouguer, Lambert, Fresnel, and Beer, describing the reflection, absorption, and transmission of light by a plane slab of absorbing materials, are applicable only at low irradiances. We have developed new laws that apply at irradiances sufficiently high to produce partial optical saturation of the chromophoric atoms, ions, or molecules of the slab. The radiation field is treated in accordance with the characteristic matrix method of Abelès, based upon Maxwell’s equations. The chromophores are treated in accordance with the optical analogs to the Bloch equations, based upon quantum-statistical mechanics. Our results are presented in the form of an algorithm, by means of which the optical properties are initially estimated assuming no saturation. These properties are then used to compute the field intensities within the medium, and these field intensities are employed in the computation of estimates for the saturated properties. Successive iterations of this procedure are used until the calcuated fields and properties are self-consistent. We show for the first time how to calculate the influence of optical saturation upon the reflectance and angle of refraction of an absorbing sample, and how the method of characteristic matrices can be employed in a problem in nonlinear optics. In addition, the effects of the divergence and finite width of the incident beam, of the cell windows, and the interaction of the forward- and backward-traveling waves to produce a spatial variation in the saturation within the sample, are all treated correctly. The results may therefore be of use to those who wish to design a practical optical memory for a computer, using bistable saturable Fabry-Perot interferometers.
Recent advances in quantum optics have highlighted the critical role of spatial propagation in controlling the quantum coherence of light beams. However, the evolution of quantum coherence for light beams undergoing fundamental optical processes at dielectric interfaces remains unexplored. Furthermore, manipulating multiphoton correlations typically requires complex interactions that challenge few-photon level implementation. Here, we introduce a quantum van Cittert-Zernike theorem for light beams, describing how their coherence-polarization properties are influenced by reflection and refraction, as well as how these properties evolve upon subsequent propagation. Our work demonstrates that the quantum statistics of photonic systems can be controllably modified through the inherent polarization coupling arising from reflection and refraction at an interface, without relying on conventional light-matter interactions. Our approach reveals regimes where thermal light can exhibit sub-Poissonian statistics with fluctuations below the shot-noise level through post-selected measurements, and this statistical property can be tuned by the incident angle. Remarkably, this quantum statistical modification is governed by a scaling law linking beam collimation to far-field thermalization. Our work establishes a robust, decoherence-avoiding mechanism for quantum state control, advancing the fundamental understanding of coherence in quantum optics and opening new avenues for applications in quantum information and metrology.