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Physical Review A

Effect of the third level on time evolution of the spontaneous upper level decay due to counter-rotating terms

Yabin Dong, Zhonghui Li, Y. Li, Shi-Yao Zhu

Published Jan 23, 2012• 9 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The third level has great influence on the time evolution of the spontaneous decay from the excited state, when the counter-rotating terms are taken into account. The influence in the cascade-type and $\mathsf{V}$-type three-level systems is investigated for two initial states, excited from the ground states of the whole system (atom plus vacuum modes) and from the bare atom. The third level results in the additional virtual photon processes, emitting a photon from one level and reabsorbing the same photon to another level and vice versa. The main influence of the third level is to accelerate the decay, which leads to or enhances the anti-Zeno effect, especially for the initial state excited from the ground state of the whole system. Therefore, the third level cannot be neglected, if the counter-rotating terms are taken into account.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.85.013832

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The third level has great influence on the time evolution of the spontaneous decay from the excited state, when the counter-rotating terms are taken into account. The influence in the cascade-type and V\mathsf{V}V-type three-level systems is investigated for two initial states, excited from the ground states of the whole system (atom plus vacuum modes) and from the bare atom. The third level results in the additional virtual photon processes, emitting a photon from one level and reabsorbing the same photon to another level and vice versa. The main influence of the third level is to accelerate the decay, which leads to or enhances the anti-Zeno effect, especially for the initial state excited from the ground state of the whole system. Therefore, the third level cannot be neglected, if the counter-rotating terms are taken into account.
The spontaneous decay of a multilevel atom interacting with the electromagnetic field in free space is investigated with a unitary transformation method, which is introduced in order to include all rotating and counter-rotating terms in the Hamiltonian. By using the ground state of the total Hamiltonian, the evolution of the effective decay rate and the energy shift are calculated. When the atomic transition frequency is smaller than the central frequency of the spectrum, the Zeno effect dominates, and if the atomic transition frequency is larger than the central frequency, the anti-Zeno effect will dominate. The time evolution of the energy shift is obtained. The counter-rotating terms lead to a shift toward the low frequency region for the frequency distribution of the emitted photon.
The time-dependent electric energy density surrounding a two-level atom fixed at r = 0 is studied, the atom being taken in its excited state at t = 0 and the field being initially in the vacuum state. The atom-field coupling includes both rotating and counter-rotating terms. The energy density of the spontaneously emitted field in the rotating wave approximation is shown to behave non-causally, while in the presence of the complete coupling it is shown to vanish outside a sphere of radius r = ct centred on the atom. The deviations of atomic dynamics from the exponential Wigner-Weisskopf behaviour during spontaneous decay are shown to be deeply influenced by the counter-rotating terms. It is concluded that the virtual photons induced by the counter-rotating terms in the atom-field coupling are essential in order to ensure causality and cannot be neglected in any accurate treatment of spontaneous emission.
The effect of the anti-rotating terms on the short-time evolution and the quantum Zeno (QZE) and anti-Zeno (AQZE) effects is studied for a two-level system coupled to a bosonic environment. A unitary transformation and perturbation theory are used to obtain the electron self-energy, energy shift and the enhanced QZE or the AQZE, simultaneously. The calculated Zeno time depends on the atomic transition frequency sensitively. When the atomic transition frequency is smaller than the central frequency of the spectrum of boson environment, the Zeno time is prolonged and the anti-rotating terms enhance the QZE; when it is larger than that the Zeno time is reduced and the anti-rotating terms enhance the AQZE. PACS numbers: 03.65.Xp; 42.50.Ct; 03.65.Yz 1 The quantum Zeno effect (QZE) and anti-Zeno effects (AQZE) have been widely discussed for decades theoretically [** * early papers and recent papers] and recently experimentally [***the paper of Ref. B and others]. In an unstable quantum twolevel (multi-level) system, frequently measurement can reduce or accelerate the decay
In this article, we systematically study the spontaneous decay phenomenon of a two-level system under the influences of both its environment and repetitive measurements. In order to clarify some well-established conclusions about the quantum Zeno effect (QZE) and the quantum anti-Zeno effect (QAZE), we do not use the rotating wave approximation (RWA) in obtaining an effective Hamiltonian. We examine various spectral distributions by making use of our present approach in comparison with other approaches. It is found that with respect to a bare excited state even without the RWA, the QAZE can still happen for some cases, for example, the interacting spectra of hydrogen. However, for a physical excited state, which is a renormalized dressed state of the atomic state, the QAZE disappears and only the QZE remains. These discoveries inevitably show a transition from the QZE to the QAZE as the measurement interval changes.
Quantum interference in spontaneous emission from a four-level atom is investigated with the counter-rotating terms and the energy shifts included. The atom has two upper levels which are coupled to a common lower level by the same vacuum modes and are driven by a coherent field to an auxiliary level. The effect of the counter-rotating terms in the coupling through the vacuum modes is taken into account by a unitary transformation method. We show how the quantum interference due to the energy shifts affects the spontaneous emission.
Abstract We study the measurement-induced enhancement of the spontaneous decay for a two-level subsystem, where measurements are treated as couplings between the excited state and an auxiliary state rather than the von Neumann's wave function reduction. The photon radiated in a fast decay of the atom, from the auxiliary state to the excited state, triggers a quasi-measurement, as opposed to a projection measurement. Our use of the term “quasi-measurement” refers to a “coupling-based measurement”. Such frequent quasi-measurements result in an exponential decay of the survival probability of atomic initial state with a photon emission following each quasi-measurement. Our calculations show that the effective decay rate is of the same form as the one based on projection measurements. The survival probability of the atomic initial state obtained by tracing over all the photon states is equivalent to that of the atomic initial state with a photon emission following each quasi-measurement.