Journal of Atomic and Molecular Physics
Application of closed-orbit Theory to the Spontaneous Emission of an Atom in the Vicinity of a Mirror
Zhengmao Jia, Hui Zhou, Lin Sheng-Lu
Abstract
Quantum electrodynamics formulas are applied to calculate the spontaneous emission rate of an excited atom in the vicinity of a perfect reflecting mirror. The result exhibits that damping oscillating patterns depend sensitively on the distance of the atom to the mirror. And then we use Fourier transform to extract the corresponding frequency of the osciations. In order to explain this phenomena, we are the first to utilize the closed-orbit theory to deal with the spontaneous emission rate of an emitted photon near a mirror. So this study provides a different perspective on the spontaneous emission of atoms in environments.