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Physical Review A

Resonant interaction between identical atoms including recoil

P. R. Berman

Published Jun 1, 1997• 20 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The emission spectrum is calculated for a system of two identical atoms, having relative coordinate r. Initially one atom is in an excited state and the other in its ground state. Both atom and field variables are fully quantized, so that the calculation automatically includes effects related to both retardation and atomic recoil on the absorption or emission of radiation. It is shown that for ${\mathrm{k}}_{0}$r\ensuremath{\gg}:1 (where ${\mathrm{k}}_{0}$=2\ensuremath{\pi}/\ensuremath{\lambda} and \ensuremath{\lambda} is the wavelength associated with the resonant excited- to ground-state transition), the emission spectrum can consist of a triplet. The frequency separation between the components of the triplet can be interpreted in terms of the recoil the atoms undergo individually on emitting or absorbing radiation. For ${\mathrm{k}}_{0}$r\ensuremath{\ll}1, the atoms emit as a composite system and the recoil (while not resolvable) is that associated with a ``molecule'' of mass 2m, where m is the mass of one of the atoms.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.55.4466

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The emission spectrum is calculated for a system of two identical atoms, having relative coordinate r. Initially one atom is in an excited state and the other in its ground state. Both atom and field variables are fully quantized, so that the calculation automatically includes effects related to both retardation and atomic recoil on the absorption or emission of radiation. It is shown that for k0{\mathrm{k}}_{0}k0​r\ensuremath{\gg}:1 (where k0{\mathrm{k}}_{0}k0​=2\ensuremath{\pi}/\ensuremath{\lambda} and \ensuremath{\lambda} is the wavelength associated with the resonant excited- to ground-state transition), the emission spectrum can consist of a triplet. The frequency separation between the components of the triplet can be interpreted in terms of the recoil the atoms undergo individually on emitting or absorbing radiation. For k0{\mathrm{k}}_{0}k0​r\ensuremath{\ll}1, the atoms emit as a composite system and the recoil (while not resolvable) is that associated with a ``molecule'' of mass 2m, where m is the mass of one of the atoms.
Using the formalism developed earlier, we treat spontaneous emission from a pair of identical two-level atoms A1{A}_{1}A1​, A2{A}_{2}A2​, whose separation r21{r}_{21}r21​ can be comparable to the wavelength $\ensuremath{\lambda}$. We obtain expressions for time-dependent intensities and damping rates with the initial conditions (a) both atoms inverted, (b) prior excitation by a short $\frac{1}{2}\ensuremath{\pi}$ pulse, and (c) only A1{A}_{1}A1​ inverted. The results in (a) are compared with those obtained for a model consisting of two initially excited harmonic oscillators O1{O}_{1}O1​, O2{O}_{2}O2​. The atoms exhibit superradiant behavior, whereas O1{O}_{1}O1​, O2{O}_{2}O2​ tend to trap radiation. In (a), the intensity pattern $\mathcal{R}(\ensuremath{\theta},t)$ develops lobes in different directions at different times, so that the spatial distribution of photons at time $t\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty}$ is the same as in the independent-atom case ${r}_{21}\ensuremath{\gg}\ensuremath{\lambda}$. For the oscillators, the lobes of $\mathcal{R}(\ensuremath{\theta},t)$ do not change direction, but only become more pronounced as time increases. In (b) and (c), the lobes oscillate back and forth at frequency $2{\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{12}$ corresponding to the shifts $\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}{\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{12}$ of the triplet and singlet states due to the ${A}_{1}\ensuremath{-}{A}_{2}$ interaction. The intensity can therefore have a sinusoidal component. Field correlation functions calculated for (a) and (c) show that A2{A}_{2}A2​ and A2{A}_{2}A2​ radiate simultaneously around the frequencies $\ensuremath{\epsilon}\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}{\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{12}$, where $\ensuremath{\epsilon}$ is the single-atom resonant frequency. The spectrum is calculated for case (c), and shows the effects of coherent linewidth enhancement in addition to the frequency shifts.
The frequency distribution of resonant radiation emitted by a system of two identical interacting atoms is calculated. The separation between the atoms is assumed to be much larger than the size of their charge distributions. Initially one atom is excited while the second one is in the ground state. The two atoms are coupled through the radiation field and the electrostatic interaction. For not too large internuclear separations the line shape of the emitted radiation exhibits two distinct peaks, and the general features are identical with the result obtained from resonance fluorescence scattering. In the decay process, however, there is equal probability of scattering through the symmetric and antisymmetric states, and thus the peak heights of the emitted radiation are different from the ones in the resonance fluorescent case. For large internuclear separations the two peaks merge into the one characteristic of the line shape of a single isolated atom.
The processes of absorption and emission of radiation by a system of two interacting atoms is investigated. Separation between the atoms is assumed to be much larger than the atomic diameter, and interactions considered are those between the individual atoms and the radiation field and the electrostatic interaction between the atoms. Calculations include those for the time-dependent probability amplitude of the intermediate and final states as well as that of the emission line shape. The line shape of the emitted radiation consists of two peaks whose amplitude, separation, and half-width are functions of both the internuclear separation R of the atoms and the energy difference of the excited states of the two atoms. For a large energy difference, the peaks are distinct; for small energy differences, the peaks are distinct at smaller separations, but merge toward the line shape characteristic of a single, isolated atom as R increases.
The excitation spectrum arising from the interaction between two identical atoms (molecules), one of which is excited in the presence of a resonant strong electromagnetic field (pump field), is investigated. The excitation spectrum is found to consist of those describing the symmetric and antisymmetric modes, respectively. The form of both spectra depends on the relation between the distance RRR separating the atoms and the wavelength $\ensuremath{\lambda}$ of the transition from the ground state to the excited state. For $R<\ensuremath{\lambda}$, and when certain conditions prevail, the spectral function for the symmetric modes consists of three Lorentzian lines describing the central peak and the two sidebands whose radiative widths are equal to ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{0}$, $\frac{3{\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{0}}{2}$, and $\frac{3{\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{0}}{2}$, which are twice the corresponding ones arising from an isolated single atom interacting with the pump field. For the antisymmetric modes the central peak has a $\ensuremath{\delta}$-function distribution indicating the stability of the mode in question, while, when certain conditions are satisfied, the two sidebands are described by Lorentzian lines each having a radiative width of the order of $\frac{{\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{0}}{2}$, which is equal to the natural linewidth for a photon spontaneously emitted from an isolated atom. For both the symmetric and antisymmetric modes, the dipole-dipole interaction between the atoms brings about small energy shifts. For $R>\ensuremath{\lambda}$, apart from the small energy shifts caused by the dipole-dipole interaction, the spectral functions for symmetric and antisymmetric modes are similar to that for the single atom interacting with the pump field.
The absorbed/emitted radiation will be treated classically, as a monochromatic plane wave, whereas the atomic system that can absorb/emit such radiation will be described quantum-mechanically. However, no incident radiation beam is needed, and the atom “falls down” after a certain time interval to the ground state without any external reason. In the spontaneous emission processes the emitting atom can be thought of as a classical oscillating dipole, whose amplitude decreases due to the energy loss through the radiation. If an ensemble of identical atoms is considered and if, for simplicity, each atom emits radiation with the same spectral shape and full width at half maximum, it is impossible to ascribe a definite spectral component with intensity to a definite atom. In this case, such a broadening is identical for all atoms in the ensemble. On the microscopic scale, absorption of radiation is reduced to the transitions between pairs of energy levels of a discrete atomic spectrum.
We study the dynamics of a system consisting of a two-level atom and a quantum oscillator coupled by the vacuum radiation field. The oscillator and the atom are assumed to have the same resonance frequency. In contrast to the two-atom or two-oscillator case, the atom-oscillator system leads to an unclosed hierarchy of equations for the operators that determine the radiation pattern emitted by the atom-oscillator system. Instead of using the operator equations, we formulate the problem in terms of density-matrix equations which can be solved once the initial conditions are specified. As an example, we looked at the radiation pattern, the decay dynamics, and the spectrum for an initial condition in which the oscillator is in its n=1n=1n=1 state and the atom is in its excited state. Dressed states (dressed by the static interaction between the atom and oscillator) prove to be especially useful for interpreting the results and comparing them with the two-atom and two-oscillator systems. All calculations are carried out using the resonance or rotating-wave approximation. The relationship of our work to damped Jaynes-Cummings models is noted.