This paer is concerned with the spontaneous-emision rate of two two-level atoms which have different resonance frequencies and whose spatial separation is much smaller than the corresponding mean resonance wavelength. The total radiation rate of such an atom pair is calculated completely quantum mechanically as a function of time. Explicit results are given for various values of the frequeny difference and the following initial states of the atomic system: (a) both atoms in the excited state, (b) one taom in the excited state the other in the ground state, (c) a symmetric combination of those states, (d) an antisymmetric combination of those states, and product states where each atom is in an equal superposition of its ground and excited states, for which the expectation values of the dipole moments are nonzero and may be considered to be osicillating (e) in phase, (f) in opposite phae, and (g) in random phase. Oscillations are found to appear in the radiation rate in all cases when the frequency difference becomes larger than a certain critical value, viz., the mean half-width of the atomic resonance lines. The oscillations are especially pronounced for the initial atomic states (c), (d), (e), and (f), which exhibit superradiance and radiation trapping. For example, for atoms in the antisymmetric state (d), for which the radiation from two identical atoms is zero (completely self-trapped), a pair of nonidentical atoms begins radiating and even oscillates into the superradiant region at times.
The interaction between electromagnetic radiation and two three-level atoms is investigated. The atom-atom separation is assumed to be smaller than the corresponding mean resonance wavelength. The total radiance rate of the atomic system is calculated as a function of time. Explicit results are given for several different initial states of the atomic system. Some of them exhibit superradiance, and some act as photon-trapping states. Instead of exponential decay, the oscillations appear in the time evolution of the radiation rate due to the correlation between atoms. The decay constants and coupling decay constants show strong effects on the emission rates. Completely differing from two identical double-level atoms, the cooperative effects always exist in the three-level atomic system except for the case in which the coupling decay constants ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{12}$ and ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{21}$ are zero.
The resonance fluorescence spectrum of two atoms near a perfectly conducting metal is investigated. A quantum-mechanical version of the image method, taking into account the dipole-dipole interaction, is adopted to study the excitation spectrum. Within the framework of this approach, each single atom and its corresponding image are kinematically correlated, while dynamically they are actually independent. The effects of the surface are directly exhibited in the decay rates, the frequency shift, and the spectrum. The influence of the surface is found to be large for weak fields but becomes very small for high intensities of the pump field.
Spontaneous emission from two non-identical two-level atoms is examined from the viewpoint of quantum beats and super-radiant effects. Our analytical solution, illustrated graphically, shows that the total radiation rate exhibits temporal sinusoidal modulation (beats). The beats result from the fact that the atoms have different transition frequencies and different natural linewidths. For small interatomic separations, the total radiation rate is greater than its initial value. This ‘super-radiant’ property is absent in the case of noninteracting atoms, as well as for two identical atoms. In the case when the atoms are separated by distances much smaller than the resonant wavelength, the population trapping effect can take place in such a system.
Using the formalism developed earlier, we treat spontaneous emission from a pair of identical two-level atoms
A1,
A2, whose separation
r21 can be comparable to the wavelength $\ensuremath{\lambda}$. We obtain expressions for time-dependent intensities and damping rates with the initial conditions (a) both atoms inverted, (b) prior excitation by a short $\frac{1}{2}\ensuremath{\pi}$ pulse, and (c) only
A1 inverted. The results in (a) are compared with those obtained for a model consisting of two initially excited harmonic oscillators
O1,
O2. The atoms exhibit superradiant behavior, whereas
O1,
O2 tend to trap radiation. In (a), the intensity pattern $\mathcal{R}(\ensuremath{\theta},t)$ develops lobes in different directions at different times, so that the spatial distribution of photons at time $t\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty}$ is the same as in the independent-atom case ${r}_{21}\ensuremath{\gg}\ensuremath{\lambda}$. For the oscillators, the lobes of $\mathcal{R}(\ensuremath{\theta},t)$ do not change direction, but only become more pronounced as time increases. In (b) and (c), the lobes oscillate back and forth at frequency $2{\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{12}$ corresponding to the shifts $\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}{\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{12}$ of the triplet and singlet states due to the ${A}_{1}\ensuremath{-}{A}_{2}$ interaction. The intensity can therefore have a sinusoidal component. Field correlation functions calculated for (a) and (c) show that
A2 and
A2 radiate simultaneously around the frequencies $\ensuremath{\epsilon}\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}{\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{12}$, where $\ensuremath{\epsilon}$ is the single-atom resonant frequency. The spectrum is calculated for case (c), and shows the effects of coherent linewidth enhancement in addition to the frequency shifts.
The spontaneous emission of a set of
N identical two-level atoms interacting with a quantized electromagnetic field is studied. The atoms are assumed to be close together compared to the mean wavelength of the emitted radiation, and their initial state is either a Dicke state or a superposition of the ground and excited state for each atom. Approximate expressions are obtained for transition probabilities, expectation values, and correlations as functions of time. The spontaneous emission for a very large separation of the atoms is also studied. In this case the directional properties of the emitted radiation, as well as the time within which the atoms decay to their ground state, depend on the position of each atom.