Quantum electrodynamics based on self-energy: Spontaneous emission in cavities

A. O. Barut, Jean-François S. Van Huele

The theory of radiative processes in quantum theory is formulated on the basis of self-energy, in analogy to classical radiation theory, and is explicitly carried out for the calculation of the Lamb shift and spontaneous emission.

Alto Osada, Rekishu Yamazaki, Atsushi Noguchi

David S. Simon

Sergey A. Rashkovskiy

Within the self-consistent Maxwell-Pauli theory, a nonlinear Schrödinger equation with a short-range compensating field is derived. Stationary and non-stationary solutions of the obtained nonlinear Schrödinger equation for the hydrogen atom are investigated. It is shown that spontaneous emission and the associated rearrangement of the internal structure of the atom, which is traditionally called a spontaneous transition, have a simple and natural description within the classical field theory without any quantization and additional hypotheses. The solution of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation showed that, depending on the frequency of spontaneous emission, the compensating field behaves differently. At relatively low frequencies of spontaneous emission, there is no radiation (waves) of the short-range compensating field and this field does not carry away energy. In this case, the damping rate of the spontaneous emission coincides with that obtained in quantum electrodynamics (QED). At relatively high frequencies of spontaneous emission, radiation (waves) of the compensating field arises, which, along with electromagnetic radiation, carry away some of the energy. In this case, the damping rate of the spontaneous emission is greater (up 1.5 times) than that predicted by QED.

J. M. Raimond

Matthew Bradford, Jung‐Tsung Shen

We investigate the effects of a nanophotonic boundary on the spontaneous emission properties of an excited two-level atom in cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) geometry. We show that a boundary provides temporally delayed interference, which can be either constructive or destructive. Consequently, the decay of the atomic excitation can be either increased or greatly inhibited. As a concrete example, we investigate the spontaneous emission process in cavity QED with a terminated line-defect waveguide, and show the rich behavior of the atomic response due to the boundary. We also show that the output photonic wave form is strongly influenced by the boundary.