Physical Review A

Quantum fluctuations for two-level atoms in a high-Qcavity with a spatially varying field mode

Min Xiao, Harry J. Kimble, H. J. Carmichael

Published May 1, 1987• 19 citations

Abstract

An extension of the quantum theory of the atom-field interaction within a high-finesse resonator is made to include spatial variations of the field mode in the limit of small cavity decay rate. The two particular examples of a Gaussian mode field in a ring cavity and a plane-wave field in a standing-wave interferometer are presented to illustrate the method. Analytic expressions are obtained for the incoherent intensity and photon correlations of the transmitted field. In qualitative terms, effects such as sub-Poissonian photon statistics predicted by the plane-wave theory in a ring cavity are preserved. In either the weak-field or dispersive limit the results of the plane-wave theory in a ring cavity are recovered independent of the form of the spatial dependence of the cavity mode.

DOI: 10.1103/physreva.35.3832

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