Theory of resonance fluorescence
- Creators
- Kimble, H. J.
- Mandel, L.
Abstract
The problem of the interaction between a two-level atom and a quantum electromagnetic field is treated without the use of perturbation theory, without introduction of classical fields or factorization conditions for the states, and without assumptions about loss of memory. The calculation is carried out in the Heisenberg picture, without mode decomposition, and the conclusions all refer to physically measurable quantities, such as the fluorescence detected in the far field of the atom. It is shown that in a coherent field of constant amplitude the system always settles down to a quasistationary state, and that the stationarity is a manifestation of the quantum fluctuations. A solution for the growth of the fluorescent light intensity is presented that holds for any coherent exciting field. The two-time correlation function and the spectral density of the fluorescence are calculated, and are found to agree in the long-time limit with earlier results of Mollow. The two-time intensity correlation function of the field is derived, which corresponds to measurable photoelectric pair correlations, and it is found that this reflects several quantum features of the field. It is shown that quantum fluctuations are manifest more explicitly in two-time correlations in the steady state than in transient effects, like spontaneous emission in the vacuum. The measurement of such correlations therefore presents an opportunity for further experimental tests of quantum electrodynamics.
Additional Information
©1976 The American Physical Society Received 23 December 1975 Work supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation.Attached Files
Published - KIMpra76.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 4713
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:KIMpra76
- NSF
- Created
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2006-09-03Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-08Created from EPrint's last_modified field