76 research outputs found
Electromagnetic Transition in Waveguide with Application to Lasers
The electromagnetic transition of two-level atomic systems in a waveguide is
calculated. Compared with the result in free space, the spontaneous emission
rate decrease because the phase space is smaller, and meanwhile, some resonance
appears in some cases. Moreover, the influence of non-uniform electromagnetic
field in a waveguide on absorption and stimulated emission is considered.
Applying the results to lasers, a method to enhance the laser power is
proposed.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Crossover from weak to strong coupling regime in dispersive circuit QED
We study the decoherence of a superconducting qubit due to the dispersive
coupling to a damped harmonic oscillator. We go beyond the weak
qubit-oscillator coupling, which we associate with a phase Purcell effect, and
enter into a strong coupling regime, with qualitatively different behavior of
the dephasing rate. We identify and give a physicaly intuitive discussion of
both decoherence mechanisms. Our results can be applied, with small
adaptations, to a large variety of other physical systems, e. g. trapped ions
and cavity QED, boosting theoretical and experimental decoherence studies.Comment: Published versio
Two-atom dark states in electromagnetic cavities
The center-of-mass motion of two two-level atoms coupled to a single damped
mode of an electromagnetic resonator is investigated. For the case of one atom
being initially excited and the cavity mode in the vacuum state it is shown
that the atomic time evolution is dominated by the appearance of dark states.
These states, in which the initial excitation is stored in the internal atomic
degrees of freedom and the atoms become quantum mechanically entangled, are
almost immune against photon loss from the cavity. Various properties of the
dark states within and beyond the Raman-Nath approximation of atom optics are
worked out.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure
Dark States and Interferences in Cascade Transitions of Ultra-Cold Atoms in a Cavity
We examine the competition among one- and two-photon processes in an
ultra-cold, three-level atom undergoing cascade transitions as a result of its
interaction with a bimodal cavity. We show parameter domains where two-photon
transitions are dominant and also study the effect of two-photon emission on
the mazer action in the cavity. The two-photon emission leads to the loss of
detailed balance and therefore we obtain the photon statistics of the cavity
field by the numerical integration of the master equation. The photon
distribution in each cavity mode exhibits sub- and super- Poissonian behaviors
depending on the strength of atom-field coupling. The photon distribution
becomes identical to a Poisson distribution when the atom-field coupling
strengths of the modes are equal.Comment: 15 pages including 7 figures in Revtex, submitted to PR
Probing the quantum vacuum with an artificial atom in front of a mirror
Quantum fluctuations of the vacuum are both a surprising and fundamental
phenomenon of nature. Understood as virtual photons flitting in and out of
existence, they still have a very real impact, \emph{e.g.}, in the Casimir
effects and the lifetimes of atoms. Engineering vacuum fluctuations is
therefore becoming increasingly important to emerging technologies. Here, we
shape vacuum fluctuations using a "mirror", creating regions in space where
they are suppressed. As we then effectively move an artificial atom in and out
of these regions, measuring the atomic lifetime tells us the strength of the
fluctuations. The weakest fluctuation strength we observe is 0.02 quanta, a
factor of 50 below what would be expected without the mirror, demonstrating
that we can hide the atom from the vacuum
Dynamics of a Vortex in a Trapped Bose-Einstein Condensate
We consider a large condensate in a rotating anisotropic harmonic trap. Using
the method of matched asymptotic expansions, we derive the velocity of an
element of vortex line as a function of the local gradient of the trap
potential, the line curvature and the angular velocity of the trap rotation.
This velocity yields small-amplitude normal modes of the vortex for 2D and 3D
condensates. For an axisymmetric trap, the motion of the vortex line is a
superposition of plane-polarized standing-wave modes. In a 2D condensate, the
planar normal modes are degenerate, and their superposition can result in
helical traveling waves, which differs from a 3D condensate. Including the
effects of trap rotation allows us to find the angular velocity that makes the
vortex locally stable. For a cigar-shape condensate, the vortex curvature makes
a significant contribution to the frequency of the lowest unstable normal mode;
furthermore, additional modes with negative frequencies appear. As a result, it
is considerably more difficult to stabilize a central vortex in a cigar-shape
condensate than in a disc-shape one. Normal modes with imaginary frequencies
can occur for a nonaxisymmetric condensate (in both 2D and 3D). In connection
with recent JILA experiments, we consider the motion of a straight vortex line
in a slightly nonspherical condensate. The vortex line changes its orientation
in space at the rate proportional to the degree of trap anisotropy and can
exhibit periodic recurrences.Comment: 19 pages, 6 eps figures, REVTE
The `Friction' of Vacuum, and other Fluctuation-Induced Forces
The static Casimir effect describes an attractive force between two
conducting plates, due to quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic (EM)
field in the intervening space. {\it Thermal fluctuations} of correlated fluids
(such as critical mixtures, super-fluids, liquid crystals, or electrolytes) are
also modified by the boundaries, resulting in finite-size corrections at
criticality, and additional forces that effect wetting and layering phenomena.
Modified fluctuations of the EM field can also account for the `van der Waals'
interaction between conducting spheres, and have analogs in the
fluctuation--induced interactions between inclusions on a membrane. We employ a
path integral formalism to study these phenomena for boundaries of arbitrary
shape. This allows us to examine the many unexpected phenomena of the dynamic
Casimir effect due to moving boundaries. With the inclusion of quantum
fluctuations, the EM vacuum behaves essentially as a complex fluid, and
modifies the motion of objects through it. In particular, from the mechanical
response function of the EM vacuum, we extract a plethora of interesting
results, the most notable being: (i) The effective mass of a plate depends on
its shape, and becomes anisotropic. (ii) There is dissipation and damping of
the motion, again dependent upon shape and direction of motion, due to emission
of photons. (iii) There is a continuous spectrum of resonant cavity modes that
can be excited by the motion of the (neutral) boundaries.Comment: RevTex, 2 ps figures included. The presentation is completely
revised, and new sections are adde
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