We obtained the system of Maxwell-Bloch equations (MB) that describe the interaction of cw laser with optically active impurity centers (particles) embedded in a dielectric material. The dielectric material is considered as a continuous medium with sufficient laser detuning from its absorption lines. The model takes into account the effects associated with both the real and the imaginary part of the dielectric constant of the material. MB equations were derived within a many-particle quantum-kinetic formalism, which is based on Bogolyubov-Born-Green-Kirkwood-Yvon (BBGKY) hierarchy for reduced density matrices and correlation operators of material particles and the quantized radiation field modes. It is shown that this method is beneficial to describe the effects of individual and collective behavior of the light emitters and requires no phenomenological procedures. It automatically takes into account the characteristics associated with the presence of non-resonant and resonant particles filling the space between the optical centers.
We obtained the system of Maxwell-Bloch equations (MB) that describe the interaction of cw laser with optically active impurity centers (particles) embedded in a dielectric material. The dielectric material is considered as a continuous medium with sufficient laser detuning from its absorption lines. The model takes into account the effects associated with both the real and the imaginary part of the dielectric constant of the material. MB equations were derived within a many-particle quantum-kinetic formalism, which is based on Bogolyubov-Born-Green-Kirkwood-Yvon (BBGKY) hierarchy for reduced density matrices and correlation operators of material particles and the quantized radiation field modes. It is shown that this method is beneficial to describe the effects of individual and collective behavior of the light emitters and requires no phenomenological procedures. It automatically takes into account the characteristics associated with the presence of non-resonant and resonant particles filling the space between the optical centers.
The effect of macroscopic parameters of a substance on the optical characteristics of impurity particles is investigated. A generalized control equation is derived for two-level emitters forming an ensemble of optical centers in a transparent dielectric medium. In this equation, the effective values of the acting pump field and the radiative relaxation rate of an optical center are taken into account. The formalism developed here is a completely microscopic approach based on the chain of the Bogoliubov-Born-Green-Kirkwood-Yvon equations for reduced density matrices and correlation operators for material particles and modes of a quantized radiation field. The method used here makes it possible to take into account the effects of individual and collective behavior of emitters, which are associated with the presence of an intermediate medium, consistently without using phenomenological procedures. It is shown that the resultant analytic expression for the effective lifetime of the excited state of an optical center conforms with experimental data.
Traditionally, the active material in a laser is modelled as independent emitters, but in recent years it has become increasingly clear that radiative coupling between emitters can significantly change the characteristics of small lasers. Collective effects in free space such as superradiance have been studied extensively [1,2], but the effects of inter-emitter correlation in micro- and nano-cavities need further examination to be put on firm theoretical ground. Several studies of collective effects in nano-cavities have been made [3-6], but the theoretical models employed are intricate, and numerical methods are needed both to generate the dynamic equations and to solve them. We propose a model where the complexity is strongly reduced, allowing analytical solutions [7]. We consider a collection of identical two-level emitters interacting with a single cavity mode. We start from Maxwell-Bloch equations, but instead of making the typical adiabatic elimination of the polarization, we allow the polarization decay rate to be of the same magnitude or smaller than other decay rates. Hence, the traditional laser rate equations for the photon number and the population inversion must be supplemented by equations for the emitter-field correlation and the emitter-emitter correlation. This gives us four generalized laser rate equations, which we solve analytically in steady state. Comparing with the steady state results obtained from the traditional laser rate equations we see that inclusion of collective effects leads to a reduction of the photon number for small pump rates, similarly to what is found in [4]. From the generalized laser rate equations, we derive a measure of the strength of collective effects in terms of laser parameters: This describes the difference between results with and without inter-emitter correlations, and it goes smoothly to zero as we approach parameter values where the traditional laser rate equations become valid. To gain insight into the photon statistics of the laser, we construct dynamic equations for higher order correlations of operators. We derive an analytical expression for the zero-delay photon auto-correlation function, and for low pump rates we find that the interaction of emitters results in super-thermal values of the auto-correlation. This feature is observed in experiments and numerical models [4-5], and with our analytical expressions, we are able to pinpoint the parameter combinations for which the collective effects have the largest impact. Considering the same model in terms of the Fourier components of the operators, we find results for the photon number that agree well with the previous approach, while allowing computation of the linewidth. Thus, we can examine how emitter-emitter correlation affects the line broadening of the laser.
We present a formalism for studying the influence of dispersive and absorbing dielectric bodies on a radiating atom in the framework of quantization of the phenomenological Maxwell equations for given complex permittivities of the bodies. In Markov approximation, the rate of spontaneous decay and the line shift associated with it can then be related to the complex permittivities and geometries of the bodies via the dyadic Green function of the classical boundary value problem of electrodynamics -- a result which is in agreement with second-order calculations for microscopic model systems. The theory is applied to an atom near a planar interface as well as to an atom in a spherical cavity. The latter, also known as the real-cavity model for spontaneous decay of an excited atom embedded in a dielectric, is compared with the virtual-cavity model. Connections with other approaches are mentioned and the results are compared.
We consider the spontaneous emission in an absorbing medium by calculating the quantum flow of energy from an emitting atom. For this purpose, we extend the analysis by Power and Thirunamachandran of quantized Maxwell fields in the vicinity of an atom in the free space to a situation where the emitter is in a dielectric medium. We represent the quantum flow in terms of the non-equal time commutators involving electric and magnetic fields, as well as the local displacement field. The commutators are calculated applying a previously developed microscopic theory of quantization of radiation in dielectrics. Consequently, we derive from first principles the rate of spontaneous emission in an absorbing medium containing local field factors and other refractive contributions. The results support the previous introduction of the (virtual cavity) local field correction by Barnett et al on a phenomenological basis, as well as our previous approach in which the spontaneous emission is considered as a resonance energy transfer to the far-zone atoms. A distinctive feature of the present formalism is that it deals with the spontaneous emission directly by calculating the quantum flow from the emitting atom. Therefore, the method is free from divergences appearing in other approaches analysing the spontaneous decay in absorbing media.
Abstract Due to their intuitiveness, flexibility, and relative numerical efficiency, the macroscopic Maxwell–Bloch (MB) equations are a widely used semiclassical and semi‐phenomenological model to describe optical propagation and coherent light–matter interaction in media consisting of discrete‐level quantum systems. This review focuses on the application of this model to advanced optoelectronic devices, such as quantum cascade and quantum dot lasers. The Bloch equations are here treated as a density matrix model for driven quantum systems with two or multiple discrete energy levels, where dissipation is included by Lindblad terms. Furthermore, the 1D MB equations for semiconductor waveguide structures and optical fibers are rigorously derived. Special analytical solutions and suitable numerical methods are presented. Due to the importance of the MB equations in computational electrodynamics, an emphasis is placed on the comparison of different numerical schemes, both with and without the rotating wave approximation. The implementation of additional effects which can become relevant in semiconductor structures, such as spatial hole burning, inhomogeneous broadening, and local‐field corrections, is discussed. Finally, links to microscopic models and suitable extensions of the Lindblad formalism are briefly addressed.