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arXiv:quant-ph/9810072 · Physical Review A

Fluorescence control through multiple interference mechanisms

Emmanuel Paspalakis, Christoph H. Keitel, P. L. Knight

Published Dec 1, 1998• 128 citations

Abstract

We discuss the spontaneous emission from a coherently prepared and microwave-driven doublet of potentially closely spaced excited states to a common ground level. Multiple interference mechanisms are identified that may lead to fluorescence inhibition in well-separated regions of the spectrum or act jointly in canceling the spontaneous emission. In addition to phase-independent quantum interferences due to combined absorptions and emissions of driving field photons, we distinguish two competing phase-dependent interference mechanisms as means of controlling the fluorescence. The indistinguishable quantum paths may involve the spontaneous emission from the same state of the doublet, originating from the two different components of the initial coherent superposition. Alternatively the paths involve a different spontaneous photon from each of two decaying states, necessarily with the same polarization. This makes these photons indistinguishable in principle within the uncertainty of the two decay rates. The phase dependence arises for both mechanisms because the interfering paths differ by an unequal number of stimulated absorptions and emissions of the microwave field photons.

DOI: 10.1103/physreva.58.4868

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We discuss quantum interference effects in the resonance fluorescence spectrum of a \ensuremath{\Lambda} three-level atom when the lower-level doublet is driven by a coherent field. The interfering pathways that lead to the same final state involve both spontaneous decays and stimulated transitions, and differ from one another by an odd number of stimulated processes induced by the driving field. As a consequence, the interference structures depend upon the phase of the coherent field, an effect that is absent in other resonance fluorescence phenomena. The phase dependence of the quantum interference contribution is especially significant when the level splitting of the driven doublet is comparable to the spontaneous decay rates of the competing optical paths.

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The interaction of a four-level atom consisting of one excited state, two upper levels and one ground state is considered. We use one field to drive the transition between the excited state and the ground state, and simultaneously apply another field to couple two transitions from the upper-level doublet to the ground state. We investigate how to control the central linewidth of resonance fluorescence spectrum of the driven transition via quantum interference between two transitions from the upper doublet to the ground state of the atom. In the case of orthogonal dipole moments for the upper doublet and the ground state the widths of the central line and the sidebands of the resonance fluorescence spectrum are totally controlled by the spontaneous emission rate of the upper doublet when the applying field is sufficiently strong. When the dipole moments are parallel, the central linewidth can be much narrower than the linewidths of spontaneous emission of the excited state and of the upper doublet due to the quantum interference. The smaller the upper doublet splitting, the narrower the central linewidth. We also notice that when the upper levels are degenerate the resonance fluorescence spectrum may depend on the initial condition because of the quantum interference.

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