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Physical Review A

Micromaser spectrum: Trapped states

Ning Lu

Published Feb 1, 1993• 20 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We study the spectrum of a one-photon micromaser through the approach of the two-time correlation function. First, we derive two general formulas for the two-time correlation function and for the micromaser spectrum. Then, we focus our attention on trapped states of the micromaser. We examine the line shapes and linewidth of the micromaser spectrum. We find that the half width at half maximum of the spectrum can be less than the smallest decay rate of the off-diagonal density matrix elements ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\rho}}}_{\mathit{n},}$${\mathit{n}}_{+1}$(t), that a hole can appear at the center of the spectrum, and that the spectrum can be split by shifted spectral components. Using a simple example in which the micromaser spectrum is exactly Lorentzian, we also show that two very close photon-number distributions can correspond to two very different natural linewidths.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.47.1347

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Calculation of the micromaser spectrum. I. Green’s-function approach and approximate analytical techniques

Tran Quang, G. S. Agarwal, János A. Bergou +4 more

We first calculate the ``exact'' micromaser spectrum by solving numerically for the Green's function of the approximate master equation for the one-atom (micro-) maser. We then proceed to calculate approximate analytical expressions for the maser linewidth using (i) a phase-operator approach, (ii) an ansatz similar to the standard quantum theory of the laser, and (iii) a linear expansion of the correlation function. Novel features, quite distinct from the familiar Schawlow-Townes linewidth, are found, e.g., the linewidth decreases as the number of thermal photons increases.

Physical Review A•Jul 1, 1993•47 citations
We study the spectrum of a one-photon micromaser through the approach of the two-time correlation function. First, we derive two general formulas for the two-time correlation function and for the micromaser spectrum. Then, we focus our attention on trapped states of the micromaser. We examine the line shapes and linewidth of the micromaser spectrum. We find that the half width at half maximum of the spectrum can be less than the smallest decay rate of the off-diagonal density matrix elements {\mathrm{\ensuremath{\rho}}}_{\mathit{n},}$${\mathit{n}}_{+1}(t), that a hole can appear at the center of the spectrum, and that the spectrum can be split by shifted spectral components. Using a simple example in which the micromaser spectrum is exactly Lorentzian, we also show that two very close photon-number distributions can correspond to two very different natural linewidths.
By calculating the two-time correlation function of a one-photon micromaser, we study the line shapes and linewidth of the micromaser spectrum. We find that the half-width at half maximum of the spectrum can be less than the smallest decay rate of the off-diagonal density-matrix elements ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\rho}}}_{\mathit{n},}$n+1{\mathit{n}}_{+1}n+1​, that a hole can appear in the spectrum, and that the spectrum can be split by shifted spectral components.
In earlier papers, the linewidth of a micromaser was approximated by a phase diffusion rate that was obtained using a single decay rate assumption to model the decay of the electric field in the micromaser cavity. These methods gave analytic but approximate answers. Exact methods calculated the spectrum via the two-time correlation function, but required extensive numerical calculations. In this paper, we present an approximate analytic derivation of the micromaser spectrum via the two-time correlation function that is more accurate than other approximate analytic methods yet requires much less numerical calculation than the exact methods. We also review the other methods, both analytical and exact, and present numerical comparisons.
The spectrum of the micromaser injected with Λ-type three-level atoms is studied. The spectrum has a Lorentzian lineshape and its central frequency has a shift. The effects of various parameters (for example, the atomic center-of-mass velocity, the cavity-length, the one-photon detuning, the ratio of the atomic injection rate to the cavity decay rate and the number of thermal photons) on the linewidth and the frequency shift are examined. The spectrum shows very different features in different velocity regimes, i.e., in the fast-atom regime, in the intermediate-velocity-atom regime, and in the slow-atom regime.
We first calculate the ``exact'' micromaser spectrum by solving numerically for the Green's function of the approximate master equation for the one-atom (micro-) maser. We then proceed to calculate approximate analytical expressions for the maser linewidth using (i) a phase-operator approach, (ii) an ansatz similar to the standard quantum theory of the laser, and (iii) a linear expansion of the correlation function. Novel features, quite distinct from the familiar Schawlow-Townes linewidth, are found, e.g., the linewidth decreases as the number of thermal photons increases.