Journal of Modern Optics
Can the kicked top be realized?
Fritz Haake
Abstract
Collections of identical two-level atoms can give rise to (quantum) chaotic behaviour if non-resonantly coupled to a resonator mode and periodically driven. Observation of such chaos would require a new generation of experiments on microwave superradiance, or optical variants thereof which would exploit the strong coupling characteristic of very small cavities. Similarly, collections of identical three-level atoms non-resonantly coupled to two cavity modes could provide ‘SU(3) laboratories’, capable of realizing the semiclassical and classical limits of SU(3) dynamics, both integrable and chaotic. Some of the more interesting modes of behaviour of such systems are discussed.