two-level atoms in a driven optical cavity: Quantum dynamics of forward photon scattering for weak incident fields
Authors:
- 1 March 1999
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review A
- Vol. 59 (3) , 2392-2417
Abstract
We investigate the photon statistics of the light transmitted from a driven optical cavity containing N two-level atoms, with emphasis on the weak driving field limit. This limit is of most interest from the point of view of quantum fluctuations. We find that various types of nonclassical behavior are possible, even with large numbers of atoms in the cavity, under conditions of strong atom-field coupling, which we refer to as the cavity quantum electrodynamics limit. We describe the system with a pure-state formalism valid for weak fields, and also use a Fokker-Planck equation obtained by a small fluctuation linearization. We examine the conditions under which the linearized theory is appropriate, and explore the sensitivity of nonclassical effects in the system to atom number, transit-time broadening, and detunings.Keywords
This publication has 50 references indexed in Scilit:
- Vacuum Radiative Level Shift and Spontaneous-Emission Linewidth of an Atom in an Optical ResonatorPhysical Review Letters, 1987
- Enhanced and inhibited visible spontaneous emission by atoms in a confocal resonatorPhysical Review Letters, 1987
- Suppression of spontaneous decay at optical frequencies: Test of vacuum-field anisotropy in confined spacePhysical Review Letters, 1987
- Inhibited Spontaneous Emission by a Rydberg AtomPhysical Review Letters, 1985
- Observation of Cavity-Enhanced Single-Atom Spontaneous EmissionPhysical Review Letters, 1983
- Quantum electrodynamics in a cavityPhysical Review A, 1982
- Inhibited Absorption of Blackbody RadiationPhysical Review Letters, 1981
- Atomic Radiation in a CavityPhysical Review A, 1970
- Influence of a dielectric interface on fluorescence decay timeJournal of Luminescence, 1970
- Resonance Absorption by Nuclear Magnetic Moments in a SolidPhysical Review B, 1946