We investigate the dynamics of an arbitrary atomic system (n-level atom or many n-level atoms) interacting with a resonant quantized mode of an electromagnetic field in a lossless cavity. Initially, the field is taken in a coherent state with a large average photon number. If the initial atomic state is chosen as an eigenstate of the atomic Hamiltonian in the classical field limit (semiclassical eigenstates), then the evolution of the system wave function is approximately factorized into the field and atomic parts. Explicit analytical expressions are given for the factorized wave functions. The time evolution of an arbitrary initial atomic state can be fully described in terms of factorized states. As examples, we discuss trapping states, and collapses and revivals of the atomic energy.
We investigate the dynamics of an arbitrary atomic system (n-level atom or many n-level atoms) interacting with a resonant quantized mode of an electromagnetic field in a lossless cavity. Initially, the field is taken in a coherent state with a large average photon number. If the initial atomic state is chosen as an eigenstate of the atomic Hamiltonian in the classical field limit (semiclassical eigenstates), then the evolution of the system wave function is approximately factorized into the field and atomic parts. Explicit analytical expressions are given for the factorized wave functions. The time evolution of an arbitrary initial atomic state can be fully described in terms of factorized states. As examples, we discuss trapping states, and collapses and revivals of the atomic energy.
We study the stochastic dynamics of the electromagnetic field in a lossless cavity interacting with a beam of two-level atoms, given that the atomic states are measured after they have crossed the cavity. The atoms first interact at the exit of the cavity with a classical laser field ℰ and then enter into a detector which measures their states. Each measurement disentangles the field and the atoms and changes in a random way the state |ψ(t)〉 of the cavity field. For weak atom-field coupling, the evolution of |ψ(t)〉 when many atoms cross the cavity and the detector is characterized by a succession of quantum jumps occurring at random times, separated by quasi-Hamiltonian evolutions, both of which depend on the laser field ℰ. For ℰ=0, the dynamics is the same as in the Monte Carlo wave function model of Dalibard et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 68, 580 (1992)] and Carmichael, An Open System Approach to Quantum Optics, Lecture Notes in Physics Vol. 18 (Springer, Berlin, 1991)]. The density matrix of the quantum field, obtained by averaging the projector |ψ(t)〉〈ψ(t)| over all results of the measurements, is independent of ℰ and follows the master equation of the damped harmonic oscillator at finite temperature. We provide numerical evidence showing that for large ℰ, an arbitrary initial field state |ψ(0)〉 evolves under the monitoring of the atoms and the measurements toward squeezed states |α,re2iφ〉, moving in the α-complex plane but with almost constant squeezing parameters r and φ. The values of r and φ are determined analytically. On the other hand, for ℰ=0, the dynamics transforms the initial state into Fock states |n〉 with fluctuating numbers of photons n, as shown in Kist et al. [J. Opt. B: Quantum Semiclassical Opt. 1, 251 (1999)]. In the last part, we derive the quantum jump dynamics from the linear quantum jump model proposed in Spehner and Bellissard [J. Stat. Phys. 104, 525 (2001)], for arbitrary open quantum systems having a Lindblad-type evolution. A careful derivation of the infinite jump rates limit, where the dynamics can be approximated by a diffusion process of the quantum state, is also presented.
The ionization of a model atom in a strong single-mode non-classical electromagnetic field is studied beyond the perturbation approach using the model of ``one discrete level + continuum'' for the atom. Explicit analytical expressions for the time-dependent probability of atomic ionization are obtained for different initial states of radiative field: Fock state, coherent wave packet, squeezed vacuum state. The results are compared to the ionization decay of discrete atomic level in a classical light field, and are analyzed for different mean number of radiative photons. The time-dependent distribution of the quantized field over photon number states is examined.
An asymptotic result is derived for the Jaynes-Cummings model of a two-level atom interacting with a quantized single-mode field, which is valid when the field is initially in a coherent state with a large average photon number. It is shown that for certain initial atomic states the joint atom-field wave function factors into an atomic and a field part throughout the interaction, so that each system remains separately in a pure state. The atomic part of the wave function displays a crossing of trajectories in the atom Hilbert space that leads to a unique state for the atom, independent of its initial state, at a specific time t0 (equal to half the revival time). The field part of the wave function resembles a crescent squeezed state. The well-known collapses and revivals are investigated from this perspective. The collapse appears to be associated with a ``measurement'' of the initial state of the atom with the field as the measuring apparatus. The measurement is not complete for finite average photon number: the system is instead left in a coherent superposition of macroscopically distinct states. At the half-revival time t0 this superposition of states is entirely in the field part of the state vector, so that the (pure) state of the field at that time is of the form sometimes referred to as a ``Schr\"odinger cat.'' The revivals of the population inversion are seen to be entirely due to the fact that the linear superposition of the two macroscopically distinct field states is coherent (i.e., a pure state), as opposed to an incoherent mixture.
The dynamics of a degenerate two-mode electromagnetic field coupled to a single two-level atom is investigated both analytically and numerically. New quantum effects are discussed concerning the time dependence of the photon number and of its fluctuations, assuming that at t = 0 one of the modes is coherent and the other is empty. The field dynamics are dominated by oscillatory net exchanges of a large number of photons between the two modes, displaying amplitude decay. Over a longer time scale, revivals and collapses in the field populations take place. The time scales of these phenomena are much larger than those of the atomic Rabi oscillations decay. Moreover, the system attains a highly non-classical regime in which the field intensity in each mode is subjected to strong fluctuations even for a large initial number of photons in the coherent mode. Various correlations between atomic and field dynamics are pointed out, and the physical origin of the new quantum effects is briefly discussed. Finally, using our fully quantized calculations, we comment on the validity of the atomic homodyne detection proposed by Wilkens and Meystre.
In the preceding chapters concerning the interaction of a radiation field with matter, we assumed the field to be classical. In many situations this assumption is valid. There are, however, many instances where a classical field fails to explain experimentally observed results and a quantized description of the field is required. This is, for example, true of spontaneous emission in an atomic system which was described phenomenologically in Chapter 5. For a rigorous treatment of the atomic level decay in free space, we need to consider the interaction of the atom with the vacuum modes of the universe. Even in the simplest system involving the interaction of a single-mode radiation field with a single two-level atom, the predictions for the dynamics of the atom are quite different in the semiclassical theory and the fully quantum theory. In the absence of the decay process, the semiclassical theory predicts Rabi oscillations for the atomic inversion whereas the quantum theory predicts certain collapse and revival phenomena due to the quantum aspects of the field. These interesting quantum field theoretical predictions have been experimentally verified. In this chapter we discuss the interaction of the quantized radiation field with the two-level atomic system described by a Hamiltonian in the dipole and the rotating-wave approximations. For a single-mode field it reduces to a particularly simple form. This is a very interesting Hamiltonian in quantum optics for several reasons. First, it can be solved exactly for arbitrary coupling constants and exhibits some true quantum dynamical effects such as collapse followed by periodic revivals of the atomic inversion.
We present a general procedure to describe the dynamics of N degenerate quantized fields interacting resonantly with a two–level atom, all coupled with the same strength, within the rotating–wave approximation. Starting from the analysis of the two and three field cases, we generalize the method by identifying dynamical invariants that lead to a factorized form of the time–evolution operator. A unitary transformation reduces the problem to an effective Jaynes–Cummings Hamiltonian, where only one field interacts with the atom and the remaining modes contribute as free fields. Assuming initially coherent fields and an atomic superposition, we compute the atomic inversion and the mean photon number, revealing vacuum Rabi oscillations with a frequency determined by an effective coupling constant that exceeds the individual atom–field coupling, as well as the characteristic collapse-revival behavior.