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arXiv:quant-ph/0205190 · Physical Review Letters

Spontaneous-Emission Suppression on Arbitrary Atomic Transitions

Jörg Evers, Christoph H. Keitel

Published Sep 26, 2002• 46 citations
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Abstract

We propose a very simple scheme to slow down the usual exponential decay of upper state population in an atomic two-level system considerably. The scheme uses an additional possibly intense field with frequency lower than the total decay width of the atomic transition. This allows for additional decay channels with the exchange of one or more low-frequency photons during an atomic transition. These channels may then interfere with each other. The intensity and frequency of the low-frequency field are shown to act as two control parameters modifying duration and amount of the population trapping. An extension of the scheme to include transitions to more than one lower state is straightforward.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.89.163601

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We propose a very simple scheme to slow down the usual exponential decay of upper state population in an atomic two-level system considerably. The scheme uses an additional possibly intense field with frequency lower than the total decay width of the atomic transition. This allows for additional decay channels with the exchange of one or more low-frequency photons during an atomic transition. These channels may then interfere with each other. The intensity and frequency of the low-frequency field are shown to act as two control parameters modifying duration and amount of the population trapping. An extension of the scheme to include transitions to more than one lower state is straightforward.
The spontaneous emission is investigated for an effective atomic two-level system in an intense coherent field with frequency lower than the vacuum-induced decay width. As this additional low-frequency field is assumed to be intense, multiphoton processes may be induced, which can be seen as alternative transition pathways in addition to the simple spontaneous decay. The interplay of the various interfering transition pathways influences the decay dynamics of the two-level system and may be used to slow down the spontaneous decay considerably. We derive from first principles an expression for the Hamiltonian including up to three-photon processes. This Hamiltonian is then applied to a quantum mechanical simulation of the decay dynamics of the two-level system. Finally, we discuss numerical results of this simulation based on a rubidium atom and show that the spontaneous emission in this system may be suppressed substantially.
Spontaneous emission can be modified if the atom is driven by an external coherent field. Such modification include the three-peak spectrum of resonance fluorescence from a two level atom. The spectral line elimination and cancellation of spontaneous emission is possible under conditions that the spontaneous emission from an excited atom can be trapped in the upper states without decaying. The amount of fluorescence in this case as well as the population of the upper levels can be controlled. If spontaneous emission along with atomic transition is suppressed, it is possible to create a population in version on this transition by using a very weak incoherent pumping.
We investigate the effect of an intense low-frequency field on the population decay of an excited two-level atom, where the two states are connected by a dipole-forbidden transition. In addition to the natural two-photon spontaneous decay, the low-frequency field gives rise to induced two-photon processes, where one of the two photons is spontaneous. Due to the low frequency of the applied field, the induced decay pathways may interfere with each other. We show how varying the parameters of the applied field allows switching between constructive and destructive interference, thereby increasing or decreasing the induced transition rate as compared to the rate without interference. As all relevant competing transitions are of the same multiphoton order, the system is a promising candidate to verify the idea of spontaneous-emission interference induced by multiphoton pathways experimentally.
It has been shown recently [see, for example, S.-Y. Zhu and M. O. Scully, Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 388 (1996)] that a dynamical suppression of spontaneous emission can occur in a three-level system when an external field drives transitions between a metastable state and two decaying states. What is unusual in the decay scheme is that the decaying states are coupled directly by the vacuum radiation field. It is shown that the decay dynamics required for total suppression of spontaneous emission necessarily implies that the level scheme is isomorphic to a three-level \ensuremath{\Lambda} system, in which the lower two levels are both metastable and each is coupled to the decaying state. As such, the total suppression of spontaneous emission can be explained in terms of conventional dark states and coherent population trapping.
We investigate theoretically the features of the spontaneous emission spectrum of a four-level atomic system driven by a coherent probe field,a coupling laser field and a microwave field.The two upper levels are coupled by a microwave field with lower frequency.The time evolution of the populations is calculated.It is shown that the spectra behavior,such as spectral-line narrowing,spectral-line enhancement,spectral-line suppression,and total cancellation of fluorescence quenching,can be easily controlled by changing the phase and the amplitude of the microwave field.