We will describe several two-channel models of quantized light-matter interactions. In the context of few-mode cavity QED these models provide analogs of familiar optical processes, such as wave mixing, optical pumping, quantum beats, downconversion, and two-photon lasing, none of which have satisfactory analogs in the (one-channel) Jaynes-Cummings model and its extensions. We will mention methods for the exact solution of these models and a few elementary predictions of nonclassical character.
We will describe several two-channel models of quantized light-matter interactions. In the context of few-mode cavity QED these models provide analogs of familiar optical processes, such as wave mixing, optical pumping, quantum beats, downconversion, and two-photon lasing, none of which have satisfactory analogs in the (one-channel) Jaynes-Cummings model and its extensions. We will mention methods for the exact solution of these models and a few elementary predictions of nonclassical character.
We present an alternative cavity QED model with three nondegenerate quantized field modes. The atom-field interaction is a cavity analog of Raman scattering, and the three field modes can be associated with pump, Stokes, and anti-Stokes frequencies. Unlike systems based on the Jaynes-Cummings model, this one has two independent channels connecting the two active atomic levels, leading to the possibility of quantum interferences. Despite its complexity, the model has eigenstates and eigenvalues that can be found exactly and fully analytically in finite terms. The most interesting eigenstates have a ``chain'' character unknown in previous cavity QED models. Both Fock-state and coherent-state solutions are presented for a number of quantities, including complex three-mode variables. Heisenberg operator solutions are demonstrated in a few cases, and an example of fourth-order quantum interferences due to the coupled channels is worked out in full.
This book provides an elementary introduction to the subject of quantum optics, the study of the quantum mechanical nature of light and its interaction with matter. The presentation is almost entirely concerned with the quantized electromagnetic field. Topics covered include single-mode field quantization in a cavity, quantization of multimode fields, quantum phase, coherent states, quasi-probability distribution in phase space, atom-field interactions, the Jaynes-Cummings model, quantum coherence theory, beam splitters and interferometers, dissipative interactions, nonclassical field states with squeezing etc., 'Schrödinger cat' states, tests of local realism with entangled photons from down-conversion, experimental realizations of cavity quantum electrodynamics, trapped ions, decoherence, and some applications to quantum information processing, particularly quantum cryptography. The book contains many homework problems and an extensive bibliography. This text is designed for upper-level undergraduates taking courses in quantum optics who have already taken a course in quantum mechanics, and for first and second year graduate students.
Abstract In this chapter we study with the tools developed in Chapter 3 the basic models that are the foundations of light–matter interaction. We start with Rabi dynamics, then consider the optical Bloch equations that add phenomenologically the lifetime of the populations. As decay and pumping are often important, we cover the Lindblad form, a correct, simple and powerful way to describe various dissipation mechanisms. Then we go to a full quantum picture, quantizing also the optical field. We first investigate the simpler coupling of bosons and then culminate with the Jaynes–Cummings model and its solution to the quantum interaction of a two-level system with a cavity mode. Finally, we investigate a broader family of models where the material excitation operators differ from the ideal limits of a Bose and a Fermi field.
In this thesis we investigate the possibilities to create non-classical states by using light-matter interactions. Our basic approach to describe these interactions is the Jaynes-Cummings model. It describes interactions between a two-level atom and a quantized field in a lossless cavity (ultra high Q quality factor). The model can be easily generalized to describe multi-level atoms, Stark shifts, Kerr interactions, micromasers, etc. We use some of these generalizations in our study. Our main interest is in the production of Schrodinger cat states, that is, the coherent superposition of two or more classical macroscopic states; and the production of sub-Poissonian photostatistics. First of all, we use the simple Jaynes-Cummings model to investigate the interaction of coherent states with two-level atoms, and compare it to the case of interaction with a statistical mixture to show that we can discern between the two. We investigate as well the interaction of two level atoms and squeezed light, where we show that these states have a strong coherent character. However, the model itself is very simple, and as we have said before, some generalizations are necessary if we are to describe more realistically the atom field interactions. In particular, we use a phenomenological Hamiltonian, which incorporates Stark shifts in the atomic levels due to the electric field in the cavity, and show that some experimental results concerning the lineshapes in micromasers may be explained by such effects. Another step is to allow the atoms to enter and leave the cavity, which leads us to investigate a micromaser system. Within this structure, we allow for one- and two-photon transitions. In the latter case, it is shown that sub-Poissonian fields (by using special atom-field interaction times) and multi Schrodinger cat states (by measuring the state of the atoms as they leave the cavity) can be generated.
The interaction of an ensemble of N two-level quantum emitters with a single-mode electromagnetic field is described by the Tavis-Cummings model. There, the collectively enhanced light-matter coupling strength is given by gN=Ng1, where g1 is the ensemble-averaged single-emitter coupling strength. This model has been employed to describe and to analyze numerous cavity-based experiments. Here, we show that this is only justified if the effective scattering rate into noncavity modes is negligible compared to the cavity's free-spectral range. In terms of experimental parameters, this requires that the optical depth of the ensemble is low, a condition that is violated in several state-of-the-art experiments. We give quantitative conditions for the validity of the Tavis-Cummings model and derive a more general Hamiltonian description that takes into account the cascaded interaction of the photons with all consecutive emitters. We show that the predictions of our cascaded model can differ quantitatively and even qualitatively from those obtained with the Tavis-Cummings model. Finally, we present experimental data, for which the deviation from the predictions of the Tavis-Cummings model is apparent. Our findings are relevant for all experiments in which optically dense ensembles of quantum emitters are coupled to an optical resonator.
In this chapter, we discuss two more experimental realizations of quantum optical phenomena, namely the interaction of an effective two-level atom with a quantized electromagnetic field in a high Q microwave cavity, the subject usually referred to as cavity QED, or sometimes CQED, and in the quantized motion of a trapped ion. Strictly speaking, these experiments are not optical, but they do realize interactions of exactly the type that are of interest in quantum optics, namely the Jaynes–Cummings interaction between a two-level system (an atom) and a bosonic degree of freedom, a single-mode cavity field in the case of a microwave cavity, and a vibrational mode of the center-of-mass motion of a trapped ion, the quanta being phonons in this case. We shall begin with a description of the useful properties of the so-called Rydberg atoms that are used in the microwave CQED experiments, proceed to discuss some general considerations of the radiative behavior of atoms in cavities, the CQED realization of the Jaynes–Cummings model, and then discuss the use of the dispersive, highly off-resonant, version of the model to generate superpositions of coherent states, i.e. the Schrödinger cat states of the type discussed in Chapters 7 and 9 for traveling wave optical fields but this time for a microwave cavity field. Finally, we discuss the realization of the Jaynes–Cummings interaction in the vibrational motion of a trapped ion.