Physical Review A

Spontaneous emission of a moving atom in vacuum

Wei Guo

Published Jun 23, 2008• 8 citations

Abstract

Spontaneous emission of an excited two-level nonrelativistic atom is examined in the Schr\"odinger picture by treating the atom's external and internal degrees of freedom on the same quantum footing. After all atomic transitions that lead to the evolution of this atom-vacuum system are analyzed, it is found that the atom's spontaneous emission rate is reduced by its center-of-mass motion. It is also found that, as a result of the entanglement between atomic and photonic states, the spontaneous emission process cannot be explained as a process that takes place in one coordinate system moving with the atom but is observed in another stationary system.

DOI: 10.1103/physreva.77.062111

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