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Atoms

Wave-Kinetic Approach to Collective Atomic Emission

José Tito Mendonça, A. Serbêto

Published Aug 10, 2020• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

We study the collective scattering of radiation by a large ensemble of Na≫1 atoms, in the presence of a pump field. We use the wave-kinetic approach where the center-of-mass position of the moving atoms is described by a microscopic discrete distribution, or alternatively, by a Wigner distribution. This approach can include thermal effects and quantum recoil in a natural way, and even consider atomic ensembles out of equilibrium. We assume two-level atoms with atomic transition frequency ωa very different from the frequency ω0 of the pump field. We consider both the quasi-classical and quantum descriptions of the center-of-mass motion. In both cases, we establish the unstable regimes where coherent emission of radiation can take place.

DOI
10.3390/atoms8030042

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We study the collective scattering of radiation by a large ensemble of Na≫1 atoms, in the presence of a pump field. We use the wave-kinetic approach where the center-of-mass position of the moving atoms is described by a microscopic discrete distribution, or alternatively, by a Wigner distribution. This approach can include thermal effects and quantum recoil in a natural way, and even consider atomic ensembles out of equilibrium. We assume two-level atoms with atomic transition frequency ωa very different from the frequency ω0 of the pump field. We consider both the quasi-classical and quantum descriptions of the center-of-mass motion. In both cases, we establish the unstable regimes where coherent emission of radiation can take place.
We present a wave atom optics theory of the Collective Atomic-Recoil Laser, where the atomic center-of-mass motion is treated quantum mechanically. It extends the previous ray atom optics theory, which treated the center-of-mass atomic motion classically, to the realm of ultracold atoms. For the case of a far off resonant pump laser we derive an analytical solution which gives the linear response of the CARL system for both the quantum and classical regimes. A linear stability analysis reveals significant qualitative differences between these two regimes, which arise from the effects of diffraction on the atomic center-of-mass motion.
We formulate a wave-atom-optics theory of the collective atomic recoil laser (CARL) where the atomic center-of-mass motion is treated quantum mechanically. By comparing the predictions of this theory with those of the ray-atom-optics theory, which treats the center-of-mass atomic motion classically, we show that for the case of a far off-resonant pump laser the ray-optics model fails to predict the linear response of the CARL when the temperature is of the order of the recoil temperature or less. This is due to the fact that in this temperature regime one can no longer ignore the effects of matter-wave diffraction on the atomic center-of-mass motion.
Interaction with a multimode quantized radiation field of an assembly of NNN two-level atoms contained in a small volume is considered for the special cases of (i) highly excited, (ii) weakly excited, and (iii) superradiant atomic assemblies, and solutions of equations of motion are obtained in closed form. For (i) and (ii) we show that, if the atomic assembly is in the Dicke state ∣r,m>|r,m>∣r,m>, the spontaneously emitted radiation is Lorentzian, and its spectral width and the numerical value of the Lamb shift are r+∣m∣r+|m|r+∣m∣ times that for a single excited atom. For (i) the sign of Lamb shift is opposite to that for (ii) and for a single excited atom. Change in the frequency shift gives chirping in the pulse radiation emitted spontaneously by an assembly of atoms. We obtain the reduced density operator for a single mode and for the complete spontaneous emitted radiation, and discuss its characteristic function, weight function in diagonal representation, coherence functions, and normalized variance. We find that the emitted radiation is chaotic if all atoms are excited or if the assembly is weakly excited and is in thermal equilibrium. For a superradiant assembly, the radiation is coherent; it is only amplitude coherent if the initial atomic density operator is nondiagonal. We also study stimulated emission and scattering for the cases (i) and (ii). For case (iii) these phenomena do not take place.
We demonstrate that superradiance and collective atomic recoil lasing from cold atoms can be enhanced using a two-frequency pump with frequency difference twice the two-photon recoil frequency ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{r}$. In the good-cavity regime the atoms behave as a three-recoil-level system, collectively scattering a single-frequency radiation mode. In the bad-cavity regime, the superradiant cascade through the different recoil momentum states is strongly accelerated. The emitted radiation shows a discrete spectrum whose harmonics are separated by $2{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{r}$ and generated by transitions between adjacent momentum levels.
We solve the spontaneous-emission problem for an atom coupled to a standing-wave cavity mode. The interaction between the atom and the cavity mode is treated nonperturbatively with the quantized motion of the atom along the cavity axis included. Results are presented for the spontaneous-emission spectrum and the final momentum distribution of the atom. For equal atomic and cavity linewidths analytical results are obtained using a Bloch-state basis (eigenstates of the coupled atom and cavity mode); these are compared with results calculated in the Raman-Nath approximation. The case of unequal linewidths may be solved numerically using the eigenstates of the uncoupled atom and cavity mode as a basis, or analytically by making a secular approximation in the Bloch-state basis. The distribution of final atomic momentum shows that under strong-coupling conditions the atom is diffracted by its radiation reaction field. We compare the spontaneous emission spectra with spectra calculated by treating the motion of the atom classically. Generally there is good agreement when the classical results are averaged over the quantum-mechanical uncertainty in the initial position of the atom. The agreement is lost for sufficiently strong dipole coupling or sufficiently light atoms. Then, spectra that are symmetric in the classical treatment are asymmetric in the quantum treatment due to energy exchange between the internal degrees of freedom and center-of-mass degrees of freedom of the atom.
A density-matrix approach is developed to provide a theoretical description of the intensity, angular distribution, and polarization of superradiative emission from an ensemble of many-electron atomic systems. The many-electron atomic systems are described as cooperatively interacting by means of forces that can be long range. Particular emphasis is given to the coherent excitation of the collective atomic-ensemble states, which may be produced by incident laser radiation. The initial excitation and spontaneous emission processes may be described as independent. Both frequency-domain and time-domain formulations of the density-matrix approach are developed. The collective atomic-ensemble states are specified in a detailed hyperfine representation, corresponding to successively coupling the individual hyperfine angular momenta F pertaining to the many-electron atoms. A less detailed fine-structure angular-momentum representation may also be used. In the density-operator approach, account can be taken of the coherent excitation of a particular subspace of the initial atomic-ensemble states. For a comprehensive and unified development of time-domain (equation-of-motion) and frequency-domain (resolvent-operator) formulations, a reduced-density-matrix (quantum-open-systems) approach is introduced. The non-equilibrium atomic-ensemble-state kinetics and the homogeneous spectral-line shapes can thereby be systematically and self-consistently determined. The collective atomic-ensemble states may be obtained using a variety of different methods. These states can be determined using a dressed-state approach, in which the required states are calculated in the presence of an electromagnetic field.