Spontaneous-emission suppression via multiphoton quantum interference

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.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, latest version with minor change

Dynamics of multiply charged ions in intense laser fields

We numerically investigate the dynamics of multiply charged hydrogenic ions in near-optical linearly polarized laser fields with intensities of order 10^16 to 10^17 W/cm^2. Depending on the charge state Z of the ion the relation of strength between laser field and ionic core changes. We find around Z=12 typical multiphoton dynamics and for Z=3 tunneling behaviour, however with clear relativistic signatures. In first order in v/c the magnetic field component of the laser field induces a Z-dependent drift in the laser propagation direction and a substantial Z-dependent angular momentum with repect to the ionic core. While spin oscillations occur already in first order in v/c as described by the Pauli equation, spin induced forces via spin orbit coupling only appear in the parameter regime where (v/c)^2 corrections are significant. In this regime for Z=12 ions we show strong splittings of resonant spectral lines due to spin-orbit coupling and substantial corrections to the conventional Stark shift due to the relativistic mass shift while those to the Darwin term are shown to be small. For smaller charges or higher laser intensities, parts of the electronic wavepacket may tunnel through the potential barrier of the ionic core, and when recombining are shown to give rise to keV harmonics in the radiation spectrum. Some parts of the wavepacket do not recombine after ionisation and we find very energetic electrons in the weakly relativistic regime of above threshold ionization.Comment: submitte

Polarized Light from the Transportation of a Matter-Antimatter Beam in a Plasma

A relativistic electron-positron beam propagating through a magnetized electron-ion plasma is shown to generate both circularly and linearly polarized synchrotron radiation. The degrees of circular and linear polarizations depend both on the density ratio of pair beam to background plasma and initial magnetization, and a maximum degree of circular polarization $\langle P_\textrm{circ}\rangle \approx 18\%$ is found to occur for a tenuous pair beam. We demonstrate that the generation of circularly polarized radiation is intrinsically linked to asymmetric energy dissipation of the pair beam during the filamentation instability dynamics in the electron-ion plasma. These results can help in understanding the recent observations of circularly polarized radiation from gamma-ray-bursts

Quantum correlations of an atomic ensemble via a classical bath

Somewhat surprisingly, quantum features can be extracted from a classical bath. For this, we discuss a sample of three-level atoms in ladder configuration interacting only via the surrounding bath, and show that the fluorescence light emitted by this system exhibits non-classical properties. Typical realizations for such an environment are thermal baths for microwave transition frequencies, or incoherent broadband fields for optical transitions. In a small sample of atoms, the emitted light can be switched from sub- to super-poissonian and from anti-bunching to super-bunching controlled by the mean number of atoms in the sample. Larger samples allow to generate super-bunched light over a wide range of bath parameters and thus fluorescence light intensities. We also identify parameter ranges where the fields emitted on the two transitions are correlated or anti-correlated, such that the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality is violated. As in a moderately strong baths this violation occurs also for larger numbers of atoms, such samples exhibit mesoscopic quantum effects.Comment: 4 page

Nuclear-size self-energy and vacuum-polarization corrections to the bound-electron g factor

The finite nuclear-size effect on the leading bound-electron g factor and the one-loop QED corrections to the bound-electron g factor is investigated for the ground state of hydrogen-like ions. The calculation is performed to all orders in the nuclear binding strength parameter Z\alpha\ (where Z is the nuclear charge and \alpha\ is the fine structure constant) and for the Fermi model of the nuclear charge distribution. In the result, theoretical predictions for the isotope shift of the 1s bound-electron g factor are obtained, which can be used for the determination of the difference of nuclear charge radii from experimental values of the bound-electron g factors for different isotopes

Positronium in intense laser fields

The dynamics and radiation of positronium is investigated in intense laser fields.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure