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Journal of Optics

Coherent control of cooperative spontaneous emission from two identical three-level atoms in a photonic crystal

Mesfin Woldeyohannes, Ighodalo U. Idehenre, Tyler Hardin

Published Jul 31, 2015• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The coherent control of cooperative spontaneous emission from two identical non-overlapping three-level atoms in the V-configuration located within a photonic band gap (PBG) material with two resonant frequencies near the upper band edge of the PBG and confined to a region small in comparison to their radiation wavelengths but still greater than their atomic sizes is investigated. The dependencies of cooperative effects in which a photon emitted by one atom is reabsorbed by the other atom on the inter-atomic separation, on the initial state of the two-atom system, on the strength of the driving control laser field, and on the detuning of the atomic resonant frequencies from the upper band edge frequency is analyzed so as to identify the conditions for which these cooperative effects are enhanced or inhibited. Cooperative effects between atoms are shown to be influenced more by the PBG than by the nature of the atomic transitions involved. Excited state populations as well as coherences between excited levels are expressed in terms of time-dependent amplitudes which are shown to satisfy coupled integro-differential equations for which analytic solutions are derived under special conditions. Unlike for the case of one atom in a PBG where the fractional non-zero steady state populations on the excited levels as well as the coherence between the excited levels are constants independent of time, in the case of two atoms in PBG these quantities continuously oscillate as a manifestation of beating due to the continuous exchange between the two atoms of the photon trapped by the PBG. The values of these quantities as well as the amplitudes and frequencies of their oscillations depend of the parameters of the system, providing different ways of manipulating the system. The general formalism presented here is shown to recapture the special results of investigations of similar systems in free space when the non-Markovian memory kernels of the PBG are replaced by delta function dependent Markovian memory kernels.

DOI
10.1088/2040-8978/17/8/085105

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The coherent control of cooperative spontaneous emission from two identical non-overlapping three-level atoms in the V-configuration located within a photonic band gap (PBG) material with two resonant frequencies near the upper band edge of the PBG and confined to a region small in comparison to their radiation wavelengths but still greater than their atomic sizes is investigated. The dependencies of cooperative effects in which a photon emitted by one atom is reabsorbed by the other atom on the inter-atomic separation, on the initial state of the two-atom system, on the strength of the driving control laser field, and on the detuning of the atomic resonant frequencies from the upper band edge frequency is analyzed so as to identify the conditions for which these cooperative effects are enhanced or inhibited. Cooperative effects between atoms are shown to be influenced more by the PBG than by the nature of the atomic transitions involved. Excited state populations as well as coherences between excited levels are expressed in terms of time-dependent amplitudes which are shown to satisfy coupled integro-differential equations for which analytic solutions are derived under special conditions. Unlike for the case of one atom in a PBG where the fractional non-zero steady state populations on the excited levels as well as the coherence between the excited levels are constants independent of time, in the case of two atoms in PBG these quantities continuously oscillate as a manifestation of beating due to the continuous exchange between the two atoms of the photon trapped by the PBG. The values of these quantities as well as the amplitudes and frequencies of their oscillations depend of the parameters of the system, providing different ways of manipulating the system. The general formalism presented here is shown to recapture the special results of investigations of similar systems in free space when the non-Markovian memory kernels of the PBG are replaced by delta function dependent Markovian memory kernels.
We demonstrate the coherent control of spontaneous emission for a three-level atom located within a photonic band gap (PBG) material, with one resonant frequency near the edge of the PBG. Spontaneous emission from the three-level atom can be totally suppressed or strongly enhanced depending on the relative phase between the steady-state control laser coupling the two upper levels and the pump laser pulse used to create an excited state of the atom in the form of a coherent superposition of the two upper levels. Unlike the free-space case, the steady-state inversion of the atomic system is strongly dependent on the externally prescribed initial conditions. This non-zero steady-state population is achieved by virtue of the localization of light in the vicinity of the emitting atom. It is robust to decoherence effects provided that the Rabi frequency of the control laser field exceeds the rate of dephasing interactions. As a result, such a system may be relevant for a single-atom, phase-sensitive optical memory device on the atomic scale. The protected electric dipole within the PBG provides a basis for a qubit to encode information for quantum computations. A detailed literature survey on the nature, fabrication and applications of PBG materials is presented to provide context for this research.
The coherent control of the entanglement between a three-level atom located within a three-dimensional (3D) anisotropic photonic band gap (PBG) material, with one transition frequency near the edge of the PBG, and its radiation field is demonstrated. As a result of quantum interference and photon localization, the entanglement can be decreased or increased depending on the relative phase between the control laser coupling, the two upper levels and the pump laser pulse used to create an excited state of the atom in the form of a coherent superposition of the two upper levels. Unlike the free-space case, the steady-state entanglement is strongly dependent on the externally prescribed initial conditions. This non-zero steady-state entanglement is achieved by virtue of the localization of light in the vicinity of the emitting atom.
We studied the effects of a coherent monochromatic resonant laser field driving the transition of a two-level atom embedded in a photonic band gap (PBG) material on the emission dynamics of the atom. When the transition frequency of the atom lies outside a PBG and sufficiently far from the band edge that the emission dynamics of the atom is not normally affected by the gap, the dynamic stark splitting of the upper level of the atom into two dressed states by a sufficiently strong resonant driving field can bring the lower dressed state close enough to the band edge or even inside the gap so as to be affected by the gap, providing a switchable means of extending the novel effects of atom–photon interaction near the edge of a PBG for atomic transitions outside the gap and far from the band edge. The net effect is as if a sufficiently strong resonant field driving a transition of an atom embedded in a PBG actively shifts the PBG close enough to the transition so that the gap affects the emission dynamics associated with the transition.
We demonstrate coherent control of the population and polarization of a two-level subsystem consisting of the two upper levels of a three-level atom in the V-configuration placed inside the structured reservoir of a photonic crystal. One of the excited state transition frequencies is located deep within the photonic band gap and the other transition is near the photonic band edge. Using the method of generalized-Laplace transforms, we study the population and polarization of the two-level subsystem of the three-level atom in the Born approximation without making the Markov approximation. The generalized-Laplace transform technique allows us to solve the Langevin equation for the operators and the correlation function of operators rather than the Schrodinger equations of motion. Coherent control of the population and the polarization dynamics of the two-level subsystem is demonstrated in the structured electromagnetic density of states of a photonic crystal. We demonstrate the tunability of the fractionalized steady-state population and the residual coherence in the photon–atom bound state by varying the Rabi frequency and the phase of the driving laser field.
The novel dynamical and spectral features of (single photon) spontaneous emission from an atomic transition near a photonic band edge are investigated by frustrating these features by spontaneous emission through another atomic transition far from the photonic band edge and deep in the photon continuum, the two atomic transitions forming the two dipole-allowed transitions of a three-level atom in a Λ configuration. Though spontaneous emission through the atomic transition far from the photonic band edge (the “far” transition) is not directly affected by the photonic band gap (PBG), it is indirectly affected by the PBG through its coupling to the atomic transition near the photonic band edge (the “near” transition) via the Λ configuration. As a result of this coupling, spontaneous emission through the “far” transition can be used as a probe to measure the strength of the effects of the PBG on spontaneous emission through the “near” transition. We have shown that the effects of the PBG on spontaneous emission via the “near” transition are strongly affected (and, therefore, can be controlled by) not only by the detuning of the “near” transition from photonic band edge but also by the vacuum decay rate of spontaneous emission through the “far” transition which is coupled to the “near” transition through the Λ configuration. In particular, we have shown that the oscillatory behavior of spontaneous emission near a photonic band edge as well as the Autler-Townes doublet of the spontaneous emission spectrum (due to the splitting of the atomic level near the photonic band edge) are strongly dependent on the decay rate of spontaneous emission through the probe transition which is far from the band edge.
The two models of three-level (one upper level and two lower levels, or two upper levels and one lower level) atom embedded in a double-band photonic crystal are adopted. The atomic transitions from the upper levels to the lower levels are assumed to be coupled by the same reservoir which are respectively the isotropic photonic band gap (PBG) modes, the anisotropic PBG modes and the free vacuum modes. The effects of the fine structure of the atomic ground state levels in the model with one upper level and two lower levels and the quantum interferences in the model with two upper levels and one lower level on the spontaneous emission spectrum of an atom are investigated in detail. Most interestingly, it is shown that new spontaneous emission lines are produced from the fine splitting of atomic ground state levels in the isotropic PBG case. The quantum interferences induce additional narrow spontaneous lines near the transition from the empty upper level to the lower level.