An exact recurrence equation of motion for density matrix elements is derived for an assembly of N atoms interacting with a damped Fock-state radiation field inside a cavity. The numerical solutions show the appearance of new quasi-stationary states.
Radiation effects from two-level atoms caused by the presence of a Fock-state field in a damped single-mode cavity are examined. An exact recurrence differential equation for density-matrix elements valid for any number of atoms or photons is derived. Numerical solutions for different cavity dampings (low- and high-Q cavities) and different photon numbers of the Fock-state field being present initially in the cavity are presented. Collective effects caused by the presence of many atoms are investigated. It is shown that new quasistationary states as well as collective radiation inhibition appear in the time behavior of the atomic energy expectation value. These effects arise from averaging over an ensemble of which each member consists of N identical two-level atoms placed into a resonant single-mode cavity. A comparison of the obtained results with those for an initial coherent or thermal field is also given.
An exact closed set of first-order linear differential equations for density-matrix elements, expressible in terms of a simple recurrence equation, is derived. This recurrence equation makes possible numerical calculations for a larger number N of atoms and arbitrary cavity damping in the case of spontaneous emission. For the first time, numerical results are presented for N = 3 10 and 18 in the case of high-Q cavities. A comparison with the approximate calculations of Bonifacio et al. is also given for low-Q cavities.
An exact closed system of linear differential equations of the first order, which can be expressed by a simple recurrence equation, is derived for matrix elements of the statistical density operator. This exact recurrence equation opens the way for numerical solutions for collective many-atom spontaneous emission in cavities with arbitrary damping and detuning. For the first time to the authors’ knowledge, numerical results are presented for N = 10 and N = 15. Moreover, the influence of the cavity damping and detuning on the collective spontaneous emission is discussed. New effects, such as the suppression of the superfluorescent effects in strongly detuned cavities, are also pointed out.