The behavior of a nonlinear oscillator (NO) coupled to a radiation field is investigated. The NO considered is an angular momentum oscillator, of energy $\ensuremath{\hbar}\ensuremath{\omega}{L}_{3}$, that describes the collective effect of a number of identical two-level (or spin-\textonehalf{}) systems under given idealized conditions, a large total angular momentum quantum number
L0 corresponding to a large number of two-level systems. The field is described by a set of modes. Free decay---with the NO initially excited and the radiation field in the ground state---and forced oscillation---with the NO subject to a prescribed resonant driving field---are studied. The analysis is performed both classically and quantum mechanically, using the classical and Heisenberg equations of motion, respectively, so as to display explicitly the difference in the results. Interest in the comparison between the two formalisms is motivated by the expectation that for large
L0, the NO should behave essentially classically, except near its highest-energy state in the absence of a driving field. The general equations of motion are reduced to equations for the NO variables only. In the classical analysis of free decay, expressions for the energy and oscillating coordinates are derived. The decay time is shown to approach infinity as
L3(0) approaches
L0 (the limiting condition being that of unstable equilibrium) and the radiative frequency shift is shown to be approximately proportional to
L3(t). It is also shown that use of the rotating-wave approximation alters qualitatively the expression for the frequency shift. In the classical analysis of forced oscillation, approximate results are obtained for a weak driving field and a strong driving field, the NO being initially in the ground state. The weakfield results exhibit a monotonic approach of
L3(t) to a constant (negative) value---or steady state---at which the power absorbed equals the power radiated; in the strong-field case,
L3(t) oscillates periodically between the limits $\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}{L}_{0}$, the coupling to the radiation field having negligible effect on the frequency of this oscillation. In the quantum-mechanical analysis, the equations of motion become simplified for
L0=21, and this case is treated first. The free-decay results are essentially similar to those of the Weisskopf-Wigner theory, exhibiting an exponential decay of
〈L3(t)〉 and a radiative frequency shift in the oscillating coordinates. Under forced oscillation, with $〈{L}_{3}(0)〉=\ensuremath{-}{L}_{0}, 〈{L}_{3}(t)〉$ approaches a constant value either monotonically, if the driving field is sufficiently weak, or by means of a damped oscillation, if the driving field is strong. For
L0>21, the free decay is treated by a method that involves the derivation of a set of expressions for the
kth derivative of
〈L3(t)〉 as an expectation value of a polynomial in
L3 of order
k+1. This set, together with the eigenvalue equation for
L3, is shown to lead to a solution for all the moments of
L3. The method is used to obtain complete solutions for several low values of
L0, and also to obtain initial derivatives of
〈L3(t)〉 as polynomials in
L0 for
〈L3(0)〉=L0. For large
L0, a comparison of classical and quantum-mechanical equations shows that only the condition $〈{L}_{3}(0)〉\ensuremath{\approx}{L}_{0}$ requires quantum-mechanical treatment, and that for a short time only. The free-decay problem with initial condition
〈L3(0)〉=L0 solved quantum mechanically up to such a time
t1 by means of the initial derivatives previously derived, and then this solution if used to provide initial conditions determining a classical solution for $t\ensuremath{\ge}{t}_{1}$. The statistical aspects introduced by the quantum mechanics are preserved in the classical solution, and their significance is discussed, with several examples, comparison is also made with a nonstatistical approximation. In the case of forced oscillation, the behavior of
〈L3(t)〉---for arbitrary
L0---is examined in detail for a strong field, and turns out to be described by a damped oscillation, the existence of the damping being independent of
L0. The apparent inconsistency of this result with the expectation that a large system subject to strong forces should behave classically is discussed, and
〈L23(t)〉 is examined. It is concluded that in a single experiment, the NO energy oscillates approximately like the classical energy, without damping; quantum mechanics introduces, however, a slight randomness (or unpredictability) in the frequency of this oscillation, because of the coupling with the radiation field. Since
〈L3(t)〉 describes the average over an ensemble of which each member consists of a NO coupled to a radiation field, the random frequency variation among the members accounts for the damping of the average. The usefulness of the combination of classical and quantum-mechanical analyses in achieving and interpreting theoretical results for a class of phenomena involving the collective interaction between a number of atoms and a radiation field is pointed out.
The motion of a particle subject to an external force and coupled to a large number of harmonic oscillators is reducible to a nonlinear integro-differential equation for the position operator. This is achieved by eliminating the degrees of freedom corresponding to the motion of the oscillators. Upon this elimination the commutator of the position and the mechanical momentum of the particle becomes time dependent and a c number for a quadratic potential, but in general a q number for other fields of force. For a harmonically bound particle interacting with the heat bath the time evolution of the position and momentum operators are given in terms of the solutions of an integro-differential equation. Certain forms of the coupling of the motion of the particle to the heat bath allow for further reduction of these equations to quartic differential equations with constant coefficients. For these cases the time dependence of the position-momentum commutator, the energy of the particle as well as the heat bath are studied.
The motion of a particle in a finite-depth confining potential, such as that of an electromagnetically trapped atom or ion, is approximately harmonic at low energy and softens as the escape energy is approached. When the particle is driven by a stochastic force, the heating and escape times depend sensitively on the noise power spectrum. We study escape times of particles in softening potentials driven by power-law colored noise. We identify two nested conditions for weak noise: the particle must execute many oscillations before escape, and noise forces must be small relative to forces exerted by the trap so as not to tilt the potential appreciably. In this regime, we derive expressions for the mean escape time using stochastic averaging techniques and compare them with Monte Carlo simulations of the full equations of motion. We also examine the crossover to regimes where these conditions are not met and large quasi-static forces give rise to additional escape mechanisms. Applying these results to an experimental measurement of lifetimes in a microfabricated ion trap, we find that spectral color alone cannot account for the rapid escape rates observed, whereas quasi-static barrier tilting by a stray field of plausible magnitude could. These results are relevant to the heating and escape of trapped atoms due to noisy force fields, as well as to other nonlinear oscillators subject to colored noise.
The Brownian motion of a harmonic oscillator is treated quantum-mechanically and the same method is applied to the relaxation of a spin. The method is quite general and applicable to a system displaced from the equilibrium state by an arbitrary amount initially. The oscillator or the spin is interacting with a thermostat composed of a great number of harmonic oscillators. The equation of motion is solved in operator form taking average as to the thermostat to the second order of the interaction parameter. The Langevin equation, the Kramers-Chandra-sekhar equation for a harmonic oscillator and the Bloch equation for a static field are derived.