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The Journal of Chemical Physics

A quantum description of radiation damping and the free induction signal in magnetic resonance

James S. Tropp

Published Jul 2, 2013• 5 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We apply the methods of cavity quantum electrodynamics (CQED), to obtain a microscopic and fully quantum-mechanical picture of radiation damping in magnetic resonance, and the nascent formation of the free induction signal. Numerical solution of the Tavis-Cummings model - i.e., multiple spins 1∕2 coupled to a lossless single-mode cavity - shows in fine detail the transfer of Zeeman energy, via spin coherence, to excite the cavity - represented here by a quantized LC resonator. The case of a single spin is also solved analytically. Although the motion of the Bloch vector is non-classical, we nonetheless show that the quantum mechanical Rabi nutation frequency (as enhanced by cavity coupling and stimulated emission) gives realistic estimates of macroscopic signal strength and the radiation damping constant in nuclear magnetic resonance. We also show how to introduce dissipation: cavity losses by means of a master equation, and relaxation by the phenomenological method of Bloch. The failure to obtain the full Bloch equations (unless semi-classical conditions are imposed on the cavity) is discussed in light of similar issues arising in CQED (and in earlier work in magnetic resonance as well), as are certain problems relative to quantization of the electromagnetic near-field.

DOI
10.1063/1.4811180

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118•Jan 1, 2005•0 citations
We apply the methods of cavity quantum electrodynamics (CQED), to obtain a microscopic and fully quantum-mechanical picture of radiation damping in magnetic resonance, and the nascent formation of the free induction signal. Numerical solution of the Tavis-Cummings model - i.e., multiple spins 1∕2 coupled to a lossless single-mode cavity - shows in fine detail the transfer of Zeeman energy, via spin coherence, to excite the cavity - represented here by a quantized LC resonator. The case of a single spin is also solved analytically. Although the motion of the Bloch vector is non-classical, we nonetheless show that the quantum mechanical Rabi nutation frequency (as enhanced by cavity coupling and stimulated emission) gives realistic estimates of macroscopic signal strength and the radiation damping constant in nuclear magnetic resonance. We also show how to introduce dissipation: cavity losses by means of a master equation, and relaxation by the phenomenological method of Bloch. The failure to obtain the full Bloch equations (unless semi-classical conditions are imposed on the cavity) is discussed in light of similar issues arising in CQED (and in earlier work in magnetic resonance as well), as are certain problems relative to quantization of the electromagnetic near-field.
We numerically solve the Liouville equation for the Tavis Cummings model of multiple spins coupled to a lossless single mode cavity, starting from an initial condition with small numbers of fully polarized spins tipped by a specified angle, and the cavity in its ground Fock state. Time evolution of the magnetizations and cavity states, following small to medium nutation by a classical field, yields a microscopic quantum mechanical picture of radiation damping in magnetic resonance, and the formation of the free induction signal, that is, the transfer of Zeeman energy, via spin coherence, to cavity coherence. Although the motion of the Bloch vector is nonclassical, our quantum description is related to the macroscopic picture of NMR reception, by showing the close relationship between the usual radiation damping constant, and the quantum mechanical Rabi nutation frequency (as enhanced by cavity coupling and stimulated emission.) That is, each is the product, of a nutation rate per oscillator current, and a current. Although the current in the damping constant is explicitly limited by cavity losses, which do not enter the formula for the Rabi frequency, we nonetheless show (in an appendix) how these losses can be introduced into our problem by means of a master equation. Numerical solution of the classical Bloch-Kirchhoff equations reinforces the conclusion that the strength of the free induction
We show that there is excellent quantitative agreement between the usual semiclassical predictions for nuclear magnetic resonance experiments (quantized spins interacting with a classical radio frequency magnetic field, including radiation damping), and the predictions of a fully quantized description of the same experiment. We also propose a pictorial description of the relevant dynamical quantum states, which helps to lead the intuition towards the same conclusion. Our model ignores spin relaxation, and simulates the equivalent damping resistor of the sample circuit by a very long piece of lossless coaxial cable. The classical rf field (pulses and free induction decay) is described quantum mechanically by means of Glauber’s “coherent” or “quasiclassical” states.
We study the radiation damping and the spin noise of a magnetic material coupled with a resonant circuit.Radiation damping in magnetic resonance is a dissipation phenomenon, where magnetization prepared after a Rabi pulse decays toward its equilibrium state.The magnetic sample loses its energy by the coupling with resonant circuit, that must be tuned in Larmor frequency of the sample spins.Even though this phenomenon had been studied many years ago, no full quantum description was done.We present a quantum Hamiltonian model, that explains the radiation damping.We use quantum Langevin equation method for this task.Beyond radiation damping, we show the magnetization acquires an unusual intrincate motion, if the circuit initial state is coherent.Using the same Langevin equation, we study the sample inuence on the resonant circuit noise.We calculate the current spectral density in the case of thermal equilibrium of whole system.We can verify the method eectiveness, comparing former papers.Moreover we study modications in the circuit noise, if an external oscillating tension is applied.In this situation, other two peaks emerge in the central peak sidebands of the sample absorption spectrum.It leads to appear three dips in circuit current spectrum.This eect is due to the splitting of the spin energy states.We comment about the analogy between this phenomenon and the resonance uorescence in Quantum Optics.
When a two-state quantum system, capable of making radiative transitions, is driven by a high-frequency field, there occur damping effects due to the reaction of the sample to its own radiated field. This damping, which becomes important for high-Q rf structures and for samples of large dc susceptibilities, is here analyzed classically for a simple prototype system—a magnetic spin system obeying the Bloch equations. These equations are augmented to include the radiation-damping torques and are then solved for the four cases of usual interest. Firstly, for steady-state slow passage, radiation damping broadens and lowers the absorption and dispersion signals. Secondly, for adiabatic fast passage, damping causes the dispersion signal to dip at the line center and causes the otherwise absent absorption signal to become finite. However, if the radiation damping field becomes larger than the rf driving field a complete adiabatic inversion is shown to be no longer possible. Thirdly, the conditions for the occurrence of delayed power peaks of the free-precession signal are discussed. Fourthly, for the case of the driven nonsteady state, the stimulated emission may, for large radiation damping, become quite large if the system is driven from an initially ``negative temperature'' condition.
Coherent, continuous-wave and pulsed-laser response of optical two-level systems are reviewed in terms of optical Bloch-Maxwell equations. The concept of the macroscopic magnetic moment reaction “radiation damping” field in NMR is extended to account for the threshold condition for maser-laser action in a cavity and for propagating optical, coherent, transient free-induction signals emitted by macroscopic electric dipole moments. Analogues of NMR in coherent optical transients are listed. A brief history is presented of early developments in magnetic resonace, leading to application of the Bloch equations to the semiclassical description of electric dipole two-level systems. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
We have in this thesis looked at two very different problems related to quantum optics. In Part I we have studied the Jaynes-Cummings model with cavity damping and a thermal background. To give an introduction to the field we started Chapter 2 by repeating how one in general derives the master equations for a system coupled to a reservoir. We then repeat the Jaynes-Cummings model and show extensions of the Jaynes-Cummings model where cavity-damping and a thermal background are taken into account. We proceed, in Chapter 3, by finding an analytical solution to the Jaynes-Cummings model with cavity damping in a thermal background when there is no detuning in the system, i.e. we have resonance between the energy of the photons in the cavity and the energy difference in the excited and ground state of the atom. We derive analytical expressions for P+(t), the probability of finding the atom in an excited state after some transition time t given that the atom was prepared in an excited state, and P++(t), the probability of finding the atom in an excited state after some transition time t when a previous atom was measured to be in the excited state. Both atoms where initially prepared in the excited state. We also, in Section 3.7 make use of the Poisson summation formula to rewrite the analytical solution P+(t) in terms of a Fourier series, from which we can predict the location of the revivals in the system. In Section 3.8 we derive stationary results, i.e. when the transition time t→∞, for the probabilities P+(t) and P++(t) and the mean number of photons ‹ n(t) › in the cavity. From our analytical results one is, for instance, led to believe that the probability P+(t) approaches 0 as the transitiontime increases, when it in reality approaches the value nb/(1 + 2nb). The results of our study of the extended Jaynes-Cummings model is presented in the article “Macroscopic Interference Effects in Resonant Cavities” and is published in Physica Scripta [5]. The article is reprinted as Article 1 at the end of this thesis. In Chapter 4 we present the result of a numerical solution of the Jaynes-Cummings model with cavity damping in a thermal background. Here we consider both the resonant case and also the case where detuning is present in the system. When we compare our numerical simulation with our analytical solutions we find that the correlation between the two are close to 1, at least when experimental values of Walther et al. [22] and Brune et al. [15, 16] are used. We also present some figures that show how the revival times and probabilities previously discussed is affected by detuning. In Section 4.2 we find an analytical formula for the revival time where detuning is embedded. In Chapter 4 we also, shortly, discuss how the detuning changes the effective number of photons in the cavity and what criteria should be present in order to separate the revival times.In Part II we study some aspects of quantum mechanical phase. We start, in Section 5.1, by repeating the definition and some results of the Susskind-Glogower phase operator. We then turn our attention to the Pegg-Barnett phase operator [26, 27, 28] in Section 5.4. We describe how to evaluate expectation-values and variances of the Pegg-Barnett phase. In Section 5.5 we establish an upper and lower bound on the phase based on the Pegg-Barnett phase description.In Section 5.9 we repeat some details of a new formalism of the phase which we have conveniently called the NFM-formalism after its inventors Noh, Foug`eres and Mandel [29, 30, 31]. We then describe how to find expectation-values using the Pegg-Barnett phase operator definition applied to the NFM-experiment described in Section 5.9. Our work on the quantum mechanical phase operator is presented in the paper “On the Quantum Phase Operator for Coherent States” and is published in Physica Scripta [6]. This paper is reprinted as Article II at the end of this thesis.