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Single-photon pulse propagation in and into a medium of two-level atoms: Microscopic Fresnel Equations

The propagation of an off-resonant, single-photon pulse in and into a medium of two-level atoms is considered. When the pulse is launched from within the medium, there are two propagation speeds, neither of which is the normal group velocity. For densities as small as 10(11) atoms/cm(3) and detuning...

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Main Authors: Berman, P.R., Ooi, Chong Heng Raymond
Format: Article
Published: American Physical Society 2011
Subjects:
QC Physics
Online Access:http://eprints.um.edu.my/7956/
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.84.063851
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spelling my.um.eprints.79562019-10-09T07:52:39Z http://eprints.um.edu.my/7956/ Single-photon pulse propagation in and into a medium of two-level atoms: Microscopic Fresnel Equations Berman, P.R. Ooi, Chong Heng Raymond QC Physics The propagation of an off-resonant, single-photon pulse in and into a medium of two-level atoms is considered. When the pulse is launched from within the medium, there are two propagation speeds, neither of which is the normal group velocity. For densities as small as 10(11) atoms/cm(3) and detunings of order 10(11) s(-1), both propagation speeds approach one half the speed of light in vacuum. Moreover, rather remarkably, there are Rabi oscillations between the field and atomic excitation, even for this single-photon pulse. In contrast, for a pulse sent into the medium, the atom-field system remains adiabatically in a dressed state that propagates with the normal group velocity. In the limit that the index of refraction is approximately equal to unity, we obtain the Fresnel equations for the reflection and transmission coefficients based on this microscopic model. The transmission coefficient differs from the conventional result owing to the fact that we quantize the field in free space. American Physical Society 2011 Article PeerReviewed Berman, P.R. and Ooi, Chong Heng Raymond (2011) Single-photon pulse propagation in and into a medium of two-level atoms: Microscopic Fresnel Equations. Physical Review A, 84 (6). 063851. ISSN 2469-9926 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.84.063851 doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.84.063851
institution Universiti Malaya
building UM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Malaya
content_source UM Research Repository
url_provider http://eprints.um.edu.my/
topic QC Physics
spellingShingle QC Physics
Berman, P.R.
Ooi, Chong Heng Raymond
Single-photon pulse propagation in and into a medium of two-level atoms: Microscopic Fresnel Equations
description The propagation of an off-resonant, single-photon pulse in and into a medium of two-level atoms is considered. When the pulse is launched from within the medium, there are two propagation speeds, neither of which is the normal group velocity. For densities as small as 10(11) atoms/cm(3) and detunings of order 10(11) s(-1), both propagation speeds approach one half the speed of light in vacuum. Moreover, rather remarkably, there are Rabi oscillations between the field and atomic excitation, even for this single-photon pulse. In contrast, for a pulse sent into the medium, the atom-field system remains adiabatically in a dressed state that propagates with the normal group velocity. In the limit that the index of refraction is approximately equal to unity, we obtain the Fresnel equations for the reflection and transmission coefficients based on this microscopic model. The transmission coefficient differs from the conventional result owing to the fact that we quantize the field in free space.
format Article
author Berman, P.R.
Ooi, Chong Heng Raymond
author_facet Berman, P.R.
Ooi, Chong Heng Raymond
author_sort Berman, P.R.
title Single-photon pulse propagation in and into a medium of two-level atoms: Microscopic Fresnel Equations
title_short Single-photon pulse propagation in and into a medium of two-level atoms: Microscopic Fresnel Equations
title_full Single-photon pulse propagation in and into a medium of two-level atoms: Microscopic Fresnel Equations
title_fullStr Single-photon pulse propagation in and into a medium of two-level atoms: Microscopic Fresnel Equations
title_full_unstemmed Single-photon pulse propagation in and into a medium of two-level atoms: Microscopic Fresnel Equations
title_sort single-photon pulse propagation in and into a medium of two-level atoms: microscopic fresnel equations
publisher American Physical Society
publishDate 2011
url http://eprints.um.edu.my/7956/
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.84.063851
_version_ 1648736110591868928
score 13.211869

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