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Physical Review Letters

Problem of Resonance Fluorescence and the Inadequacy of Spontaneous Emission as a Test of Quantum Electrodynamics

Harry J. Kimble, L. Mandeļ

Published Jun 16, 1975• 46 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The interaction of a two-level atom with an external electromagnetic field is examined in the framework of quantum electrodynamics, without any assumption about Markoffian behavior or stationarity. It is found that spontaneous emission in the vacuum and the rate of fluorescence in an external field do not depend on quantum properties of the electromagnetic field, whereas the correlation functions do.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.34.1485

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Physical Review•Aug 10, 1969•59 citations
The interaction of a two-level atom with an external electromagnetic field is examined in the framework of quantum electrodynamics, without any assumption about Markoffian behavior or stationarity. It is found that spontaneous emission in the vacuum and the rate of fluorescence in an external field do not depend on quantum properties of the electromagnetic field, whereas the correlation functions do.
The problem of the interaction between a two-level atom and a quantum electromagnetic field is treated without the use of perturbation theory, without introduction of classical fields or factorization conditions for the states, and without assumptions about loss of memory. The calculation is carried out in the Heisenberg picture, without mode decomposition, and the conclusions all refer to physically measurable quantities, such as the fluorescence detected in the far field of the atom. It is shown that in a coherent field of constant amplitude the system always settles down to a quasistationary state, and that the stationarity is a manifestation of the quantum fluctuations. A solution for the growth of the fluorescent light intensity is presented that holds for any coherent exciting field. The two-time correlation function and the spectral density of the fluorescence are calculated, and are found to agree in the long-time limit with earlier results of Mollow. The two-time intensity correlation function of the field is derived, which corresponds to measurable photoelectric pair correlations, and it is found that this reflects several quantum features of the field. It is shown that quantum fluctuations are manifest more explicitly in two-time correlations in the steady state than in transient effects, like spontaneous emission in the vacuum. The measurement of such correlations therefore presents an opportunity for further experimental tests of quantum electrodynamics.
We present a theory of two-photon resonance fluorescence of an atom or molecule in which the excitation by an external electromagnetic field as well as fluorescence emission is mediated by two-photon processes. The treatment is based on first dressing the atom or molecule by the external field and then evaluating perturbatively the effect of the interaction with the vacuum or fluorescent field and so resonance fluorescence can be considered as spontaneous emission from the dressed atom. The introduction of the combined system of atom and external field via dressed states leads to simpler calculations and more transparent physics. The fluorescence spectrum derived by us has similarities as well as differences with that of one-photon resonance fluorescence and earlier theoretical predictions for the two-photon case.
Abstract Both quantum-electrodynamical (QED) and semiclassical approaches are applied to study the spontaneous emission of an atom or atomic ensemble driven by the strong external laser field. It is demonstrated that the semiclassical approach typically used for analyzing the emission of dressed atomic systems is inconsistent with the QED approach and does not provide a proper description of the emission of two-level atoms in a strong external laser field. That is, aside from a situation where the external radiation is nonresonant, weak enough and does not cause the essential population of the excited atomic level.
Abstract This thesis presents an investigation into the quantum characteristics of fluorescence emitted by a two-level atom placed in the electromagnetic vacuum and driven by a classical coherent field. The theoretical analysis employs the Jaynes–Cummings model together with the master-equation formalism commonly used to describe open quantum systems. Within this framework, the work examines key nonclassical fea tures such as photon antibunching, sub-Poissonian statistics, and quantum regression. Particular emphasis is given to resonance fluorescence and the influence of weak and strong driving fields on the coherence properties of the emitted radiation. The master equation is solved in the long-time limit to obtain the evolution of relevant atomic expectation values, which are subsequently used to study population dynamics, mean photon behavior, and spectral features of the fluorescence signal. The study also highlights the role of vacuum fluctuations in spontaneous emission and their impact on the quantum behavior of the atom, ultimately providing insights into the generation of coherent and nonclassical light from driven atomic systems and their relevance to quantum communication and quantum information technologies. Keywords: Fluorescence, Jaynes–Cummings model, Photon statistics, Quantum optics, Two-level atom
Abstract This thesis presents an investigation into the quantum characteristics of fluorescence emitted by a two-level atom placed in the electromagnetic vacuum and driven by a classical coherent field. The theoretical analysis employs the Jaynes–Cummings model together with the master-equation formalism commonly used to describe open quantum systems. Within this framework, the work examines key nonclassical fea tures such as photon antibunching, sub-Poissonian statistics, and quantum regression. Particular emphasis is given to resonance fluorescence and the influence of weak and strong driving fields on the coherence properties of the emitted radiation. The master equation is solved in the long-time limit to obtain the evolution of relevant atomic expectation values, which are subsequently used to study population dynamics, mean photon behavior, and spectral features of the fluorescence signal. The study also highlights the role of vacuum fluctuations in spontaneous emission and their impact on the quantum behavior of the atom, ultimately providing insights into the generation of coherent and nonclassical light from driven atomic systems and their relevance to quantum communication and quantum information technologies. Keywords: Fluorescence, Jaynes–Cummings model, Photon statistics, Quantum optics, Two-level atom
A simple theoretical model is formulated which describes dynamical features of the interaction of two-level atoms with a continuum of radiation oscillators. In particular, this paper is concerned with resonance scattering by single atoms in the presence of an external classical field, and spontaneous emission by a system of identical atoms. In the case of resonance scattering, the response of an atom to rapid changes of the amplitude of the external field is studied. The model for spontaneous emission by a system of atoms is based on the assumptions that all atoms have the same resonance frequency, and that the atoms are contained in a volume whose extension is small compared with the wavelength of the emitted radiation. The complete evolution of a system of mmm atoms is determined by a set of coupled first-order linear differential equations, and explicit solutions are presented for the values m=1,2,3,4,and8m=1,2,3,4, \mathrm{and} 8m=1,2,3,4,and8. Pair correlations of the atoms and photon-number fluctuations are discussed. An approximation for resonance fluorescence by a system of atoms with a broad distribution of resonance frequencies is included in an Appendix.