Anisotropic Photonic Band Gap Research Articles

Spontaneous emission spectrum of a four-level atom in a double-band photonic crystal

The spontaneous emission spectrum from a four-level atom in a double-band photonic crystal has been investigated. We use the model which assumes three atomic transitions. One of the transitions interacts with the free vacuum modes and the other two transitions couple to the modes of the isotropic photonic band gap (PBG), the anisotropic PBG and another free vacuum. The effects of the fine structure of the lower levels on the spontaneous emission spectrum of an atom are investigated in detail in the three cases. New features of four (two) transparencies with two (one) spontaneous emission peaks, resulting from the fine structure of the lower levels of an atom, are predicted in the case of isotropic PBG modes.

Spontaneous emission spectrum of a three-level atom embedded in photonic crystal

The two models of three-level (one upper level and two lower levels, or two upper levels and one lower level) atom embedded in a double-band photonic crystal are adopted. The atomic transitions from the upper levels to the lower levels are assumed to be coupled by the same reservoir which are respectively the isotropic photonic band gap (PBG) modes, the anisotropic PBG modes and the free vacuum modes. The effects of the fine structure of the atomic ground state levels in the model with one upper level and two lower levels and the quantum interferences in the model with two upper levels and one lower level on the spontaneous emission spectrum of an atom are investigated in detail. Most interestingly, it is shown that new spontaneous emission lines are produced from the fine splitting of atomic ground state levels in the isotropic PBG case. The quantum interferences induce additional narrow spontaneous lines near the transition from the empty upper level to the lower level.

Spontaneous emission from a three-level atom embedded in anisotropic photonic band gap structures

Abstract We investigate spontaneous emissions from a three-level atom embedded in realistic anisotropic photonic band gap structures, where the band edge is assumed to be midway between the two upper levels of the atom. In the anisotropic model, the atom-field interaction is reduced to be smaller than that in the ideal isotropic model, which results in the reduction of suppression and oscillation effects in the spontaneous emission; however, we demonstrate that the suppression is strongly enhanced even in the anisotropic model by expanding the detuning between the upper level and the band edge, while the oscillation is greatly reduced. This demonstration is carried out by calculating the atomic state vector for a wide range of the detuning. Using the state vector, the atom-field interaction is studied for two field parts, a localized part and a propagating part, separately. For the localized part, the atom-field interaction is enhanced by expanding the detuning, in spite of the anisotropy, which leads to a strong suppression effect, while for the propagating part, the atom-field interaction is reduced, which leads to a weak oscillation effect. This result is relevant to strong memory effects with high-speed switching, which are attractive properties for a qubit.

Probe spectrum of a four-level atom in a double-band photonic crystal

In this paper, the probe absorption spectrum of an atom in a double-band photonic crystal have been studied. In the modes, we assume that one of the two atomic transitions in a ?-type atomic system is interacting with free vacuum modes and another transition is interacting with free vacuum modes, isotropic photonic band gap (PBG) modes and anisotropic PBG modes, separately. The effects of the fine structure of the atomic lower levels on the probe absorption spectrum are investigated in detail in the three cases. The most interesting thing is that the two (four) transparencies at one (two) probe absorption peak(s), caused by the fine structure of the lower levels of an atom, are predicted in the case of isotropic PBG modes.

Spontaneous emission from a three-level atom embedded in anisotropic photonic band gap structures

We investigate spontaneous emissions from a three-level atom embedded in realistic anisotropic photonic band gap structures, where the band edge is assumed to be midway between the two upper levels of the atom. In the anisotropic model, the atom-field interaction is reduced to be smaller than that in the ideal isotropic model, which results in the reduction of suppression and oscillation effects in the spontaneous emission; however, we demonstrate that the suppression is strongly enhanced even in the anisotropic model by expanding the detuning between the upper level and the band edge, while the oscillation is greatly reduced. This demonstration is carried out by calculating the atomic state vector for a wide range of the detuning. Using the state vector, the atom-field interaction is studied for two field parts, a localized part and a propagating part, separately. For the localized part, the atom-field interaction is enhanced by expanding the detuning, in spite of the anisotropy, which leads to a strong suppression effect, while for the propagating part, the atom-field interaction is reduced, which leads to a weak oscillation effect. This result is relevant to strong memory effects with high-speed switching, which are attractive properties for a qubit.

Single-atom switching in photonic crystals

We describe the role of first non-Markovian corrections to resonance fluorescence in photonic crystals, using a perturbative expansion of the Heisenberg equations of motion in powers of the atom-field reservoir coupling strength. Non-Markovian effects arise from the rapid variation of the photonic density of states with frequency. Our method recaptures the physics of the photon-atom bound state in the presence of a full photonic band gap. For the anisotropic three-dimensional photonic band gap, it predicts remarkable features in the resonance fluorescence, such as atomic population inversion and switching behavior in a two-level atom for moderate values of the applied laser field. The magnitude of the switching effect depends sensitively on the external laser intensity and its detuning frequency from the atomic transition. The robustness of this effect against nonradiative decay and dephasing mechanisms is also investigated.

Eu 3+ emission in an anisotropic photonic band gap environment

Eu 3+ ions have been incorporated into the silica skeleton of synthetic opal. The effect of the anisotropic photonic band gap structure upon the emission characteristics has been studied in the case where the emission bandwidth is narrower than the stop-band. Either suppression or enhancement of the spontaneous emission at the wavelength of the radiative transition has been observed, depending on the relative position of the emission band and the stop-band.

Creation of partial band gaps in anisotropic photonic-band-gap structures

The photonic-band-gap (PBG) structure composed of an anisotropic-dielectric sphere in uniform dielectric medium is studied by solving Maxwell's equations using the plane-wave expansion method. In particular, for a uniaxial material with large principal refractive indices and sufficient anisotropy between them, the photonic band structures possess a full band gap in the whole Brillouin zone for a diamond lattice. Furthermore, in the 1/3 partial Brillouin zone where the Bloch wave vector has a dominant component along the extraordinary axis of uniaxial sphere, the photonic band structures are found to exhibit full band gaps for all the other lattices such as face-centered-cubic, body-centered-cubic, and simple-cubic lattices, although a complete band gap does not open in the whole Brillouin zone. The partial band gaps persist at a very low filling fraction of uniaxial sphere. This phenomenon is attributed to the breakdown of the photonic band degeneracy at high-symmetry points of the Brillouin zone by the anisotropy of material dielectricity. The combination of such an anisotropic PBG structure with the self-arrangement technique of colloidal crystal may provide a possible way to fabricate the three-dimensional photonic crystal in visible and infrared regimes. The application of a strong electric field may bring into alignment the extraordinary axis of uniaxial sphere as this configuration of spheres is most favorable thermodynamically.