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Physical Review A

Resonance fluorescence of linear and nonlinear oscillators according to classical and quantum theories: An insight into vacuum fluctuations

I. R. Senitzky

Published Oct 1, 1989• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

The resonance fluorescence spectrum of linear and nonlinear oscillators driven by a monochromatic field of frequency ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}$, near the resonant frequency \ensuremath{\omega}, is calculated both classically and quantum mechanically. The result for the linear oscillator is the same in both calculations: a \ensuremath{\delta} function at ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}$. For the nonlinear oscillator, however, the classical and quantum-mechanical spectra near resonance are qualitatively different: Classically, a \ensuremath{\delta} function at ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}$ is obtained; quantum mechanically, a weak-field calculation leads to a \ensuremath{\delta} function at ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}$ together with finite-width peaks nearby. An intuitive explanation for the difference is suggested by the examination of the quantum-mechanical energy-correlation function for the linear oscillator. This function describes energy oscillations with frequencies within a band centered at ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}$-\ensuremath{\omega}. The oscillations can be interpreted as the beating of the driven oscillation with those produced by the vacuum fluctuations (the latter having a frequency spread of the order of the relaxation constant). Because of the nonlinearity, the energy oscillation modulates the effect of the driving field to produce sidebands. Higher-order processes produce additional peaks. A heuristic picture of vacuum fluctuations is developed.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.40.4435

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The resonance fluorescence spectrum of linear and nonlinear oscillators driven by a monochromatic field of frequency \ensuremathω0{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}\ensuremathω0​, near the resonant frequency \ensuremath{\omega}, is calculated both classically and quantum mechanically. The result for the linear oscillator is the same in both calculations: a \ensuremath{\delta} function at \ensuremathω0{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}\ensuremathω0​. For the nonlinear oscillator, however, the classical and quantum-mechanical spectra near resonance are qualitatively different: Classically, a \ensuremath{\delta} function at \ensuremathω0{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}\ensuremathω0​ is obtained; quantum mechanically, a weak-field calculation leads to a \ensuremath{\delta} function at \ensuremathω0{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}\ensuremathω0​ together with finite-width peaks nearby. An intuitive explanation for the difference is suggested by the examination of the quantum-mechanical energy-correlation function for the linear oscillator. This function describes energy oscillations with frequencies within a band centered at \ensuremathω0{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}\ensuremathω0​-\ensuremath{\omega}. The oscillations can be interpreted as the beating of the driven oscillation with those produced by the vacuum fluctuations (the latter having a frequency spread of the order of the relaxation constant). Because of the nonlinearity, the energy oscillation modulates the effect of the driving field to produce sidebands. Higher-order processes produce additional peaks. A heuristic picture of vacuum fluctuations is developed.
A method of calculation of multiple-time correlation functions of the resonance fluorescence light from a two-level atom driven by a realistic laser field with phase and amplitude fluctuations is developed. Both kinds of fluctuations are assumed to be Gaussian. The phase fluctuations are treated in the phase-diffusion model. The averaging over the amplitude fluctuations can be performed in a closed way when the relative mean-square amplitude fluctuation is small compared with the ratio of the amplitude correlation decay rate to the characteristic atomic relaxation rate. There is no restriction to Markovian amplitude fluctuations. Arbitrary values for the mean Rabi frequency are allowed. Results are presented for the intensity, the intensity correlation function, and the spectrum of the fluorescent light. It is shown that even in the case when the relative strength of the amplitude fluctuations is small, significant effects can occur due to the finite correlation length of the fluctuations. The results for fast amplitude correlation decay correspond to the situation without amplitude fluctuations. When the correlation time of the amplitude fluctuations becomes comparable with the atomic relaxation times, the Rabi oscillations of the intensity and the intensity correlation function are nearly washed out, and non-Lorentzian line shapes for the side peaks in the spectrum are observed. It is found that the ratio of the heights of the central peak to the side peak increases with increasing correlation time.
The phenomenon of resonance fluorescence provides an interesting manifestation of the quantum theory of light and is a “real world” application of the material of the Chapters 8 and 9. In this process, a two-level atom is typically driven by a resonant continuous-wave laser field and the spectral and quantum statistical properties of the fluorescent light emitted by the atom are measured. Experimentally this can be achieved by scattering a laser off a collimated atomic beam such that the directions of the laser beam, atomic beam, and detector axis are mutually perpendicular as shown in Fig. 10.1. If the driving field is monochromatic, then at low excitation intensity the atom absorbs a photon at the excitation frequency and reemits it at the same frequency as a consequence of conservation of energy. The spectral width of the fluorescent light is therefore very narrow. The situation, however, is considerably more complicated when the excitation intensity increases and the Rabi frequency associated with the driving field becomes comparable to, or larger than, the atomic linewidth. At such intensity levels, the Rabi oscillations show up as a modulation of the quantum dipole moment and sidebands start emerging in the spectrum of the emitted radiation. This so-called dynamic Stark splitting is an interesting feature of the atom–field interaction. In addition to that, the fluorescent light exhibits certain nonclassical properties including photon antibunching and squeezing. In this chapter, we develop a theory of resonance fluorescence to explain these phenomena.
Noise that can be attributed to vacuum fluctuations, usually referred to as quantum noise, is examined. It is shown that vacuum fluctuations of a single uncoupled mode do not constitute noise, in the sense of a random process, but the superposition of the fluctuations of a large number of modes does constitute, formally, noise. The effect of vacuum fluctuations of the free-space radiation field on a harmonic oscillator, a nondegenerate parametric amplifier, and a degenerate parametric amplifier, all driven by a prescribed sinusoidal field, is compared with the effect of classical noise. It is found that the coordinates of all systems respond in a formally similar manner to both vacuum fluctuations and classical noise. However, the resonance fluorescence spectrum---the evidence of ``detection''---is completely different for the two kinds of noise. The spectrum of the harmonic oscillator does not exhibit noise in response to vacuum fluctuations, but does so in response to classical noise. The spectra of the two types of parametric amplifiers do exhibit noise in response to vacuum fluctuations, but this noise differs from that in the classical case. An explanation for the difference is offered, based on the fact that the quantum fluctuations cannot do work, but can noise-modulate power from an outside source, which, for the parametric amplifiers, is the pump. In the analysis of noise from the degenerate parametric amplifier, it is shown that squeezed noise, viewed as an oscillation of the dispersion with a sufficiently low minimum, is generated in the same manner in the case of classical noise as in the case of quantum noise, and is due to phase conjugation.
We examine the radiative properties of a two-level atom driven by a strong bichromatic field with frequencies ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\omega}}}_{1}$=${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\omega}}}_{0}$-${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\delta}}}_{1}$ and ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\omega}}}_{2}$=${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\omega}}}_{0}$+${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\delta}}}_{2}$, which can be asymmetrically placed about the atomic transition frequency ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\omega}}}_{0}$ and can have different Rabi frequencies ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Omega}}}_{1}$ and ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Omega}}}_{2}$. Applying the optical Bloch equations for the bichromatic excitation, we derive an infinite set of equations of motion for the time evolution of the atomic variables. The equations are solved numerically by matrix inversion and Laplace transforms. Using the quantum regression theorem, we then solve for the steady-state total fluorescence intensity, and the resonance-fluorescence and absorption spectra. The spectra are found to depend on the frequency difference 2\ensuremath{\delta}=${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\delta}}}_{1}$+${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\delta}}}_{2}$, the average detuning \ensuremath{\Delta}=${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\omega}}}_{0}$-1/2(${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\omega}}}_{1}$+${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\omega}}}_{2}$), and the Rabi frequencies of the driving fields. For ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Omega}}}_{1}$=${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Omega}}}_{2}$=\ensuremath{\Omega}, the total fluorescent intensity displays a series of maxima for \ensuremath{\Delta}=\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}n\ensuremath{\delta}\ensuremath{\mp}${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Omega}}}^{2}$/4\ensuremath{\delta}, where the n are the odd integers. The intensity-dependent shift from the resonances n\ensuremath{\delta} is explained as an analog of the generalized Bloch-Siegert shift. The resonance-fluorescence spectrum for \ensuremath{\Delta}\ensuremath{\ne}0 appears to contain more peaks than that for \ensuremath{\Delta}=0.This is due to the splitting of the central peak and the even sidebands into doublets. The absorption spectrum of a weak-probe beam for \ensuremath{\Delta}=0 and equal Rabi frequencies consists of a symmetric series of dispersionlike sidebands separated from ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\omega}}}_{0}$ by integer multiples of \ensuremath{\delta}, together with a central absorption peak at ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\omega}}}_{0}$, whose amplitude oscillates with \ensuremath{\Omega}. For \ensuremath{\Delta}\ensuremath{\ne}0 and/or ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Omega}}}_{1}$\ensuremath{\ne}${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Omega}}}_{2}$, the odd sidebands remain dispersionlike, while the central peak and the even sidebands split into absorption-emission doublets. A simple physical interpretation of the spectral features is given in terms of the dressed-atom model.
The fluorescence field from one of the two allowed transitions in a three-level atom can sense squeezed fluctuations of a vacuum field coupled to the other transition. We examine the fluorescence spectra of strongly driven three-level atoms in \ensuremath{\Lambda}, V, and cascade configurations in which one of the two one-photon transitions is coupled to a finite-bandwidth squeezed vacuum field, when the bandwidth is much smaller than the difference in the atomic transition frequencies, though much larger than atomic decay rates and Rabi frequencies of the driving fields. The driving fields are on one-photon resonance, and the squeezed vacuum field is generated by a degenerate parameter oscillator. Details are only given for the \ensuremath{\Lambda} configuration. The extension to the V and cascade configurations is straightforward. We find that in all configurations the fluorescence spectra of the transition not coupled to the squeezed vacuum field are composed of five lines, one central and two pairs of sidebands, with intensities and widths strongly influenced by the squeezed vacuum field. However, only the central component and the outer sidebands exhibit a dependence on the squeezing phase. We also examine the fluorescence spectrum for the cascade configuration with a squeezed vacuum field on resonance with the two-photon transition between the ground and the most excited states and now generated by a nondegenerate parametric oscillator. In this case, where the squeezed vacuum field can be made coupled to both transitions, all spectral lines depend on the squeezing phase. The spectral features are explained in terms of the dressed-atom model of the system. We show that the coherent mixing of the atomic states by the strong driving fields modifies transition rates between the dressed states, which results in the selective phase dependence of the spectral features. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
Resonance fluorescence spectra of a driven Kerr nonlinear resonator is investigated both theoretically and experimentally. When the Kerr nonlinear resonator is driven strongly such that the induced Rabi frequency is comparable to or larger than the Kerr nonlinearity, the system cannot be approximated as a two-level system. We theoretically derive characteristic features in the fluorescence spectra such as the decrease of the center-peak intensity and the asymmetric sideband peaks in the presence of finite dephasing. Those features are consistently explained by the population of the initial dressed state and its transition matrix element to the final dressed state of the transition corresponding to each peak. Finally, we experimentally measure the resonance fluorescence spectra of a driven superconducting Kerr nonlinear resonator and find a quantitative agreement with our theory.