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Optics Express

Interaction of a two-level atom with single-mode optical field beyond the rotating wave approximation

Ju Liu, Zhiyuan Li

Published Nov 10, 2014• 12 citations
Publisher

Abstract

One of the simplest models involving the atom-field interaction is the coupling of a single two-level atom with single-mode optical field. Under the rotating wave approximation, this problem is reduced to a form that can be solved exactly. But the approximation is only valid when the two levels are resonant or nearly resonant with the applied electromagnetic radiation. Here we present an analytical solution without the rotating wave approximation and applicable to general atom-field interaction far away from the resonance. We find that there exists remarkable influence of the initial phase of optical field on the Rabi oscillations and Rabi splitting, and this issue cannot be explored in the context of the rotating wave approximation. Due to the retention of the counter-rotating terms, higher-order harmonic appears during the Rabi splitting. The analytical solution suggests a way to regulate and control the quantum dynamics of a two-level atom and allows for exploring more essential features of the atom-field interaction.

DOI
10.1364/oe.22.028671

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One of the simplest models involving the atom-field interaction is the coupling of a single two-level atom with single-mode optical field. Under the rotating wave approximation, this problem is reduced to a form that can be solved exactly. But the approximation is only valid when the two levels are resonant or nearly resonant with the applied electromagnetic radiation. Here we present an analytical solution without the rotating wave approximation and applicable to general atom-field interaction far away from the resonance. We find that there exists remarkable influence of the initial phase of optical field on the Rabi oscillations and Rabi splitting, and this issue cannot be explored in the context of the rotating wave approximation. Due to the retention of the counter-rotating terms, higher-order harmonic appears during the Rabi splitting. The analytical solution suggests a way to regulate and control the quantum dynamics of a two-level atom and allows for exploring more essential features of the atom-field interaction.
We considered the semiclassical Rabi model: a two-level atom fixed at a position and interacting with a classical, monochromatic electromagnetic field. In resonance and for an arbitrary initial state of the system, we obtained an approximate, analytic solution that takes into account the counterrotating terms and that is accurate as long as the Rabi frequency is smaller than or equal to 1/21/21/2 (1/41/41/4) of the angular frequency of the field and 111 (101010) Rabi oscillations are considered. In addition, the approximate solution has the same level of complexity as that obtained with the rotating-wave-approximation (RWA) and the approximate solution also leads to a simple criterion that allows one to determine the accuracy of the solution in the RWA. We found that the approximate solution is composed of the the solution in the RWA plus terms that oscillate at the angular frequency of the field and at the Rabi frequency. Moreover, these corrections are proportional to the Rabi frequency divided by two times the angular frequency of the field.
In this article, by using the perturbation theory, we analytically solve the eigenvalue problem for the Hamiltonian describing the interaction of a Λ -type three-level atom with a single-mode radiation field without the rotating wave approximation (RWA). For this purpose, the atom–field interaction Hamiltonian, which contains the counter-rotating terms (CRTs), is transformed to an analytically solvable Hamiltonian by applying three successive unitary transformations. According to our calculations, the contribution of CRTs within the transformed Hamiltonian is in fact replaced by transforming the 'constant detuning' with the 'intensity-dependent detuning' in the first order, and the 'constant atom–field coupling' with the intensity-dependent coupling in the second order of the perturbation parameters. Then, by solving the eigenvalue problem for the transformed Hamiltonian, the eigenvector of the considered atom–field Hamiltonian is obtained analytically. Finally, after achieving the state vector of the atom–field system at an arbitrary time, a few nonclassical properties of the system state are investigated numerically. Meanwhile, we compare our results with the presence of RWA, from which the role of CRTs will be established.
Recalling that the rotating wave approximation (RWA) is only valid in the weak coupling regimes, the purpose of this paper is to study the Hamiltonian dynamics describing the full quantum mechanical approach of the interaction between various configurations of three-level atoms Lambda, V and ladder distinctly with a two-mode radiation field, while the RWA is not considered; the counter-rotating terms (CRTs) are taken into account. Generally, the presence of CRTs in the Hamiltonian prevents one to achieve an analytical solution. Moreover, as we will show in the present work, using the perturbation theory, analytical solvable Hamiltonians can be successfully obtained. According to our calculations, the contribution of CRTs within the ordinary Hamiltonian is equivalent to the replacement of the constant detuning with a specific intensity dependent detuning in the first order, and the constant atom field coupling with a particular intensity dependent (f deformed) coupling in the second order of the associated perturbation parameter. Moreover, noticing that according to the initial expression of the Hamiltonian, each mode of the field interacts only with a specific pair of the allowed transitions of each type of the three-level atom, it is surprisingly observed that via applying the mentioned approach, the obtained intensity dependent coupling functions depend on both modes of the field, f(na,nb). In this way, it is seen that the CRTs are removed with the price of arriving at some intermixed intensity dependent atom field coupling functions of the two modes of the field. In this way, the obtained final Hamiltonians are analytically solvable. At last, by determining the time evolution of the atom field wave function, we study the effects of CRTs on a few nonclassical properties of the state of the system, including the atomic population inversion and photon statistics.
We have investigated vacuum Rabi oscillation of an atom coupled with single-mode cavity field exactly, and compared the results with that of the Jaynes–Cummings (J–C) model. The results show that for resonant case, there is no Rabi oscillation for an atom. For small detuning and weak coupling case, the probability for the atom in excited state oscillates against time with different frequencies and amplitudes from that of the J-C model. It exhibits that the counter-rotating wave interaction could significantly effect the dynamic behaviour of the atom, even under the condition in which the RWA is considered to be justified.
It is well known that, under the rotating-wave approximation, the Rabi Hamiltonian, which describes the interaction between a two-level atom and a single field mode, reduces to the Jaynes-Cummings model through exclusion of its counter-rotating term. In this work, it is found that, since photons in the mode are indistinguishable, there exist two conditions where the counter-rotating term can never be ignored. These conditions, all subject to the requirements that the atom-mode coupling is weak and the atom is initially in its ground state, are obtained in the stationary perturbation theory and confirmed through an analysis of the atom-mode system's evolution.
We apply a mixed quantum-classical (MQC) approach to the quantum Rabi model, involving a classical optical field coupled self-consistently to a quantum two-level system. Under the rotating wave approximation, we analytically show that this approach yields persistent yet anharmonic Rabi oscillations, governed by an undamped and unforced Duffing equation. We consider the single-quantum limit, where we find that such anharmonic Rabi oscillations closely follow full-quantum results once zero-point energy is approximately enforced when initializing the optical field coordinate. Our findings provide guidance in the application of MQC dynamics to classes of problems involving small quantum numbers and far away from decoherence.