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Physical Review

Multiple-Time-Scale Perturbation Theory and Constant Atomic Transition Rates

G. L. Brooks, Leonard M. Scarfone

Published Sep 5, 1969• 9 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A conventional perturbation approach to the problem of induced emission by an atom exposed to electromagnetic radiation is reviewed. The calculation is known to contain a familiar mathematical anomaly requiring a nonphysical restraint on the time range of validity of the derived expression for the atomic transition rate. The problem is then solved again in the formalism of multiple-time-scale perturbation theory. This approach avoids the mathematical difficulty in question, and yields for the transition rate a more general expression. During the restricted time interval, in which the conventionally obtained result is valid, it and the more general expression are identical.

DOI
10.1103/physrev.185.82

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A conventional perturbation approach to the problem of induced emission by an atom exposed to electromagnetic radiation is reviewed. The calculation is known to contain a familiar mathematical anomaly requiring a nonphysical restraint on the time range of validity of the derived expression for the atomic transition rate. The problem is then solved again in the formalism of multiple-time-scale perturbation theory. This approach avoids the mathematical difficulty in question, and yields for the transition rate a more general expression. During the restricted time interval, in which the conventionally obtained result is valid, it and the more general expression are identical.
The spontaneous radiative decay to the ground state of an atomic system initially in the higher of two excited states, coupled in a radiationless fashion by an external field, is investigated by the method of multiple-time-scale perturbation theory. The coupled differential equations of motion for the probability amplitudes are solved to second order, while the usual secular behavior of conventional time-dependent perturbation theory is eliminated in terms of two natural time scales: a fast time scale corresponding to the reciprocal of the level transition frequency and a slower time scale associated with the inverse of the radiation linewidth. Expressions are obtained to this order for the energy shifts and decay characteristics of the excited states and the energy distribution of the final-state photons, quantities previously determined by Fourier analysis and contour integration and by the phenomenological approach of Weisskopf and Wigner. A detailed comparison of these various methods of solution includes conditions under which the present results agree to second order with the previous calculations.
The multiple-linear-time-scale method is used to construct a perturbation theory for NNN-level quantum systems subjected to time-dependent perturbations. The secular and small-denominator terms which plague conventional time-dependent perturbation theory are avoided; consequently, the theory is useful for treating long-term behavior and resonant interactions. The introduction of a self-energy operator allows the shifts in energy levels to be displayed explicitly. When the perturbation is the dipole interaction with an electromagnetic field, the successive approximations yield the well-known rotating-wave approximation, corrections due to counter rotating terms, and the Bloch-Siegert frequency shift. The formalism is applicable to arbitrary pulse shapes, provided that $\ensuremath{\parallel}{H}_{1}\ensuremath{\parallel}\ensuremath{\ll}\ensuremath{\hbar}\overline{\ensuremath{\omega}}$, where $\ensuremath{\parallel}{H}_{1}\ensuremath{\parallel}$ represents the inter-action strength and $\overline{\ensuremath{\omega}}$ is a characteristic frequency of the field. Rabi oscillations induced by multiphoton resonances are automatically included, and this effect is demonstrated in the case of a square pulse with frequency approximately one half the resonance frequency for a transition between two vibrational levels of a molecule. These calculations are compared to an exact numerical solution in order to find the limits of validity of the approximation. Even at high intensities ($I\ensuremath{\sim}{10}^{14}$ W/cm2{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}cm2) the shifted resonance frequency is quite accurate; however, the approximate and exact solutions are slightly out of phase, so that the approximate solution can only be trusted for a few Rabi cycles. For much lower intensities ($I\ensuremath{\sim}{10}^{10}$ W/cm2{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}cm2), the approximate solution is valid for many thousands of Rabi cycles.
Results valid for arbitrarily high intensity of electromagnetic field are presented for induced emission from an excited state of an atom. Comparison with perturbation theory shows that perturbative calculations fail quantitatively and qualitatively at lower intensity than had been expected. Distinctive intense-field features are discussed such as vanishing of the transition probability for certain intensities and photon multiplicities, and appearance of two extrema of the transition amplitude for multiphoton processes at very high intensities.
Some phenomena cannot be solved using the exact solution of the Schrödinger equation. However, using approximated methods such as perturbation theory we are able to obtain remarkable results considering terms up to second order. The physical phenomena studied here are the absorption and stimulated emission by the classical feature. In addition, we are going to discuss the physical meaning of perturbation theory when we treat the behaviour how initial state ket evolves as time goes on. We will evaluate the transition of probability between states, the rate and the energy involved in the atomic transitions. It will be introduced fundamental concepts of quantum mechanics, such as interaction picture, and a general perturbation theory using constant and sinusoidal time-dependent perturbation term. Concerning to these phenomena, we considered the perturbed term of the Hamiltonian of the interaction between the vector potential and electron momentum.
An introduction is presented to a recently established nonperturbative approach to the transitions between atomic states induced by weak electromagnetic waves. A special case of the general solution is calculated and discussed in detail. Results of the nonperturbative approach reduce under perturbation condition to those obtained by the time- dependent perturbative method,but overcome the difficulty that the perturbative results are obviously unreasonable in the near resonant region. According to the nonperturbative solution,the electric- dipole selection rules are approximately recovered for short time. For large time,however,probabilities for forbidden transitions may become comparable with those for allowed ones.
Chapter 17 begins by approaching the general problem of a quantum system subject to a time-dependent perturbation. We then apply perturbation theory to the interaction of atomic matter with the radiation field and derive the most important radiative corrections. Atomic transitions – both induced and spontaneous – are discussed in detail, with some important applications. The formal introduction of field quantization allows us to make contact with quantum electrodynamics and quantum optics and discuss the Jaynes–Cummings model. Stochastic electrodynamics, in which the matter–field interaction is not a perturbation but is present ab initio, is used to explain atomic stability and its breakdown leading to radiative transitions. In the same spirit, the quantization of the field is physically justified by deriving the conventionally postulated field operators and their basic commutators. The chapter ends with a brief introduction to second quantization, an elegant and powerful formalism for describing and analyzing quantum many-body systems.