Characteristics of stationary maser generation in the case of a polarizing pump

Milan Odehnal

Решетов Владимир Александрович, N. M. Dyagileva, Igor V. Yevseyev

The theory of a one-atom maser, when the atoms enter the microresonator being excited to the upper maser level from its ground state by the bichromatic laser field resonant with the two adjacent optically allowed transitions with arbitrary angular momenta, is built. This theory is applied to the investigation of the polarization properties of a one-atom maser, i.e., the dependence of the maser field characteristics on the mutual orientations of the polarization vectors of the maser field mode and of the pump laser field. New experiments are proposed to study such polarization properties, which may be performed within the framework of the experimental setup used by Professor H. Walther and collaborators [1–3].

Bell Telephone Laboratories, Henry E. Breed

T. B. Karlovich, S. Ya. Kilin

The effect of thermal photons on the radiative properties of a one-atom maser is investigated. Stationary P and Q distribution functions are determined analytically in the approximation of strong interaction between an atom and a cavity field mode. The generation conditions are found for a one-atom maser. It is shown that taking into account thermal photons leads to a decrease in the threshold value of incoherent pumping. It is demonstrated that generation may occur in the absence of population inversion in the atomic subsystem and when losses exceed the intensity of incoherent pumping. A formula is proposed for the Fano factor of a one-atom maser in the form of the sum of the Fano factors of the microcavity radiation in the absence of thermal photons and the thermal radiation.

M. T. Cherpak

Решетов Владимир Александрович, И. Н. Пигалева, Igor V. Yevseyev

The polarization properties of one-atom maser pumped by the coherent field via Raman transitions are studied theoretically. The three-level Λ-type atoms with degenerate Rydberg levels E b < E a < E c enter the micromaser cavity being excited to the lower level E b . The coherent microwave field drives the transition b → c , while the maser transition a → c is coupled to the cavity quantum field. The dependence of the maser field parameters, such as the mean photon number and the variance, as well as of the correlation functions of the atoms, emerging from the cavity, versus the angle ψ between the polarizations of the maser and driving fields are investigated. The case of transitions J b = 3/2 → J c = 3/2 and J a = 5/2 → J c = 3/2 in the rubidium atoms, which are exploited in micromaser experiments (see, e.g., the review [1]), is analyzed numerically. The possibility of monitoring the state of the maser field by means of driving field polarization is discussed.