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Physical Review A

Spontaneous emission near the edge of a photonic band gap

Sajeev John, Tran Quang

Published Aug 1, 1994• 688 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We study spontaneous emission near the edge of a photonic band gap. Instead of a simple exponential decay in the vacuum, spontaneous emission displays an oscillatory behavior. A single photon-atom bound dressed state exhibits a fractional steady-state atomic population on the excited state. For a three-level atom we evaluate the spectral splitting and subnatural linewidth of spontaneous emission. In the presence of N-1 unexcited atoms we show that the collective time scale factor is equal to ${\mathit{N}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\varphi}}}$, where \ensuremath{\varphi}=2/3 for an isotropic band gap and \ensuremath{\varphi}=1 or 2 for anisotropic two-dimensional or three-dimensional band edges, respectively.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.50.1764

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Acta Physica Sinica•Jan 1, 2003•3 citations
We study spontaneous emission near the edge of a photonic band gap. Instead of a simple exponential decay in the vacuum, spontaneous emission displays an oscillatory behavior. A single photon-atom bound dressed state exhibits a fractional steady-state atomic population on the excited state. For a three-level atom we evaluate the spectral splitting and subnatural linewidth of spontaneous emission. In the presence of N-1 unexcited atoms we show that the collective time scale factor is equal to N\ensuremathφ{\mathit{N}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\varphi}}}N\ensuremathφ, where \ensuremath{\varphi}=2/3 for an isotropic band gap and \ensuremath{\varphi}=1 or 2 for anisotropic two-dimensional or three-dimensional band edges, respectively.
The novel dynamical and spectral features of (single photon) spontaneous emission from an atomic transition near a photonic band edge are investigated by frustrating these features by spontaneous emission through another atomic transition far from the photonic band edge and deep in the photon continuum, the two atomic transitions forming the two dipole-allowed transitions of a three-level atom in a Λ configuration. Though spontaneous emission through the atomic transition far from the photonic band edge (the “far” transition) is not directly affected by the photonic band gap (PBG), it is indirectly affected by the PBG through its coupling to the atomic transition near the photonic band edge (the “near” transition) via the Λ configuration. As a result of this coupling, spontaneous emission through the “far” transition can be used as a probe to measure the strength of the effects of the PBG on spontaneous emission through the “near” transition. We have shown that the effects of the PBG on spontaneous emission via the “near” transition are strongly affected (and, therefore, can be controlled by) not only by the detuning of the “near” transition from photonic band edge but also by the vacuum decay rate of spontaneous emission through the “far” transition which is coupled to the “near” transition through the Λ configuration. In particular, we have shown that the oscillatory behavior of spontaneous emission near a photonic band edge as well as the Autler-Townes doublet of the spontaneous emission spectrum (due to the splitting of the atomic level near the photonic band edge) are strongly dependent on the decay rate of spontaneous emission through the probe transition which is far from the band edge.
We investigate spontaneous emission from a two-level atom embedded in photonic crystals. Due to the photon localization and the quantum interference between the two dressed states, some changes of the radiation field happen, and the energy is transferred among the excited atom, the localized field, the propagating field and the diffusion field. If there is a localized field, it appears quasi-oscillation behaves of the population evolution in the excited level. If there isn't a localized field, it appears no quasi-oscillation. Moreover, there have some steady-state trapped atom populations in the excited level, and the spontaneous emission spectrum near the forbidden gap edge is different from that in the vacuum. All these characteristics depend not only on the relative position of the excited level from the band-edge but also on the photon density of states (or the band-edge smoothing parameter) near the band edge.
We describe collective spontaneous emission of NNN two-level atoms placed within a photonic band-gap material. When the atomic resonance frequency lies at the band edge, superradiant emission remains localized in the vicinity of the atoms. This leads to a steady state with spontaneously broken symmetry in which the atomic system acquires a macroscopic polarization. The superradiant decay rate is proportional to N2/3{N}^{2/3}N2/3 and N2{N}^{2}N2 for isotropic and anisotropic 3D band gaps, respectively. The corresponding peak intensity of superradiance is proportional to N5/3{N}^{5/3}N5/3 and N3{N}^{3}N3, respectively.
Spontaneous emission from a two-level atom embedded in photonic crystals was investigated in this paper. Due to the photon localization and the quantum interference between the two dressed states, some changes in the radiation field take place: when the excited level moves from the gap to the band, the energy of the localized field is transferred to the propagating field through the diffusion field. If the localized field and the propagating field could coexist, the population evolution in the excited level would exhibit quasi-oscillation behavior. If they could not coexist, there would be no quasi-oscillation. The steady-state trapped atom population in the excited level is changed also. All these characteristics depend not only on the relative position δ of the excited level ω _1 with respect to the band-edge ω _c but also on the photon density of states ρ(ω_k) (or the band-edge smoothing parameter e ) near the band edge.
We suggest a better mathematical method, fractional calculus, for studying the behavior of the atom-field interaction in photonic crystals. By studying the spontaneous emission of an atom in a photonic crystal with a one-band isotropic model, we found that the long-time inducing memory of the spontaneous emission is a fractional phenomenon. This behavior could be well described by fractional calculus. The results show no steady photon-atom bound state for the atomic resonant transition frequency lying in the proximity of the allowed band edge which was encountered in a previous study (Woldeyohannes and John 2003 J. Opt. B: Quantum Semiclass. Opt. 5 R43). The correctness of this result is validated by the 'cut-off smoothing' density of photon states (DOS) with fractional calculus. By obtaining a rigorous solution without the multiple-valued problem for the system, we show that the method of fractional calculus has a logically concise property.
We have studied the properties of the spontaneous emission from a two-level atom embedded in two-band photonic crystals. Due to the anisotropic two-band dispersion relation, the localized and propagating fields cannot coexist, this leads to the non-quasi-oscillation behaviour of the upper level population. Thus the upper level population will tend to a constant as time goes to infinity, or decay with time in a power law, or decay with time exponentially, different from that in the isotropic one-band dispersion relation case. These properties are directly related to the relative position of the upper level from the band edge and the width of the gap.