251 research outputs found
Atomic entanglement near a realistic microsphere
We study a scheme for entangling two-level atoms located close to the surface
of a dielectric microsphere. The effect is based on medium-assisted spontaneous
decay, rigorously taking into account dispersive and absorptive properties of
the microsphere. We show that even in the weak-coupling regime, where the
Markov approximation applies, entanglement up to 0.35 ebits between two atoms
can be created. However, larger entanglement and violation of Bell's inequality
can only be achieved in the strong-coupling regime.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, Late
Canonical quantization of electromagnetic field in an anisotropic polarizable and magnetizable medium with spatial-temporal dispersion
Modeling an anisotropic spatially and temporarily dispersive
magnetodielectric medium by two independent collections of three dimensional
vector fields, we demonstrate a fully canonical quantization of electromagnetic
field in the presence of such a medium. Two tensor fields which couple the
electromagnetic field with the medium and have an important role in this
quantization method are introduced. The electric and magnetic polarization
fields of the medium naturally are concluded in terms of the coupling tensors
and the dynamical variables modeling the magnetodielectric medium. In
Heisenberg picture, the constitutive equations of the medium together with the
Maxwell laws are obtained as the equations of motion of the total system and
the susceptibility tensors of the medium are calculated in terms of the
coupling tensors. Following a perturbation method the Green function related to
the total system is found and the time dependence of electromagnetic field
operators is derived.Comment: 19 pages, No figur
Green functions and propagation of waves in strongly inhomogeneous media
We show that Green functions of second-order differential operators with
singular or unbounded coefficients can have an anomalous behaviour in
comparison to the well-known properties of Green functions of operators with
bounded coefficients. We discuss some consequences of such an anomalous short
or long distance behaviour for a diffusion and wave propagation in an
inhomogeneous medium
Quantum state conversion by cross-Kerr interaction
A generalized Mach-Zehnder-type interferometer equipped with cross-Kerr
elements is proposed to convert N-photon truncated single-mode quantum states
into (N+1)-mode single-photon states, which are suitable for further state
manipulation by means of beam splitter arrays and ON/OFF-detections, and vice
versa. Applications to the realization of unitary and non-unitary
transformations, quantum state reconstruction, and quantum telemanipulation are
studied.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures, using a4.st
Casimir-Polder forces: A non-perturbative approach
Within the frame of macroscopic QED in linear, causal media, we study the
radiation force of Casimir-Polder type acting on an atom which is positioned
near dispersing and absorbing magnetodielectric bodies and initially prepared
in an arbitrary electronic state. It is shown that minimal and multipolar
coupling lead to essentially the same lowest-order perturbative result for the
force acting on an atom in an energy eigenstate. To go beyond perturbation
theory, the calculations are based on the exact center-of-mass equation of
motion. For a nondriven atom in the weak-coupling regime, the force as a
function of time is a superposition of force components that are related to the
electronic density-matrix elements at a chosen time. Even the force component
associated with the ground state is not derivable from a potential in the
ususal way, because of the position dependence of the atomic polarizability.
Further, when the atom is initially prepared in a coherent superposition of
energy eigenstates, then temporally oscillating force components are observed,
which are due to the interaction of the atom with both electric and magnetic
fields.Comment: 23 pages, 3 figures, additional misprints correcte
Surface-induced heating of cold polar molecules
We study the rotational and vibrational heating of diatomic molecules placed
near a surface at finite temperature on the basis of macroscopic quantum
electrodynamics. The internal molecular evolution is governed by transition
rates that depend on both temperature and position. Analytical and numerical
methods are used to investigate the heating of several relevant molecules near
various surfaces. We determine the critical distances at which the surface
itself becomes the dominant source of heating and we investigate the transition
between the long-range and short-range behaviour of the heating rates. A simple
formula is presented that can be used to estimate the surface-induced heating
rates of other molecules of interest. We also consider how the heating depends
on the thickness and composition of the surface.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figure
Field quantization in inhomogeneous anisotropic dielectrics with spatio-temporal dispersion
A quantum damped-polariton model is constructed for an inhomogeneous
anisotropic linear dielectric with arbitrary dispersion in space and time. The
model Hamiltonian is completely diagonalized by determining the creation and
annihilation operators for the fundamental polariton modes as specific linear
combinations of the basic dynamical variables. Explicit expressions are derived
for the time-dependent operators describing the electromagnetic field, the
dielectric polarization and the noise term in the latter. It is shown how to
identify bath variables that generate the dissipative dynamics of the medium.Comment: 24 page
Local-field correction to one- and two-atom van der Waals interactions
Based on macroscopic quantum electrodynamics in linearly and causally
responding media, we study the local-field corrected van der Waals potentials
and forces for unpolarized ground-state atoms placed within a magnetoelectric
medium of arbitrary size and shape. We start from general expressions for the
van der Waals potentials in terms of the (classical) Green tensor of the
electromagnetic field and the atomic polarizability and incorporate the
local-field correction by means of the real-cavity model. In this context,
special emphasis is given to the decomposition of the Green tensor into a
medium part multiplied by a global local-field correction factor and, in the
single-atom case, a part that only depends on the cavity characteristics. The
result is used to derive general formulas for the local-field corrected van der
Waals potentials and forces. As an application, we calculate the van der Waals
potential between two ground-state atoms placed within magnetoelectric bulk
material.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, corrections according to erratu
Quantum Electrodynamics near a Huttner-Barnett dielectric
We build up a consistent theory of quantum electrodynamics in the presence of
macroscopic polarizable media. We use the Huttner-Barnett model of a dispersive
and absorbing dielectric medium and formulate the theory in terms of
interacting quantum fields. We integrate out the damped polaritons by using
diagrammatic techniques and find an exact expression for the displacement field
(photon) propagator in the presence of a dispersive and absorbing dielectric
half-space. This opens a new route to traceable perturbative calculations of
the same kind as in free-space quantum electrodynamics. As a worked-through
example we consider the interaction of a neutral atom with a dispersive and
absorbing dielectric half-space. For that we use the multipolar coupling
of the atomic dipole moment to the
electromagnetic displacement field. We apply the newly developed formalism to
calculate the one-loop correction to the atomic electron propagator and find
the energy-level shift and changes in the spontaneous decay rates for a neutral
atom close to an absorptive dielectric mirror.Comment: 25 pages, 4 figure
Trapping cold atoms near carbon nanotubes: thermal spin flips and Casimir-Polder potential
We investigate the possibility to trap ultracold atoms near the outside of a
metallic carbon nanotube (CN) which we imagine to use as a miniaturized
current-carrying wire. We calculate atomic spin flip lifetimes and compare the
strength of the Casimir-Polder potential with the magnetic trapping potential.
Our analysis indicates that the Casimir-Polder force is the dominant loss
mechanism and we compute the minimum distance to the carbon nanotube at which
an atom can be trapped.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure
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