Quantization Of Electromagnetic Field Research Articles

Motion induced excitation and electromagnetic radiation from an atom facing a thin mirror

We evaluate the probability of (de-)excitation and photon emission from a neutral, moving, non-relativistic atom, coupled to the quantum electromagnetic field and in the presence of a thin, perfectly conducting plane ("mirror"). These results extend, to a more realistic model, the ones we had presented for a scalar model, where the would-be electron was described by a scalar variable, coupled to an (also scalar) vacuum field. The latter was subjected to either Dirichlet or Neumann conditions on a plane. In our evaluation of the spontaneous emission rate produced when the accelerated atom is initially in an excited state, we pay attention to its comparison with the somewhat opposite situation, namely, an atom at rest facing a moving mirror.

Recent developments on the Casimir torque

The Casimir force acts on nearby surfaces due to zero-point fluctuations of the quantum electromagnetic field. In the nonretarded limit, the interaction is also known as the van der Waals force. When the electromagnetic response of the surfaces is anisotropic, a torque may act on the surfaces. Here, we review the literature and recent developments on the Casimir torque. The theory of the Casimir torque is discussed in an explicit example for uniaxial birefringent plates. Recent theoretical predictions for the Casimir torque in various configurations are presented. A particular emphasis is made on experimental setups for measuring the Casimir torque.

Coherent Stimulated Radiation, Coherent Spontaneous Radiation and Coupled Photon Pairs in Non-Uniform Thermally Excited Gaseous Media: Calculation Procedure

This work continues the author’s study of the processes of interaction between a quantum electromagnetic field and a spatially non-uniform gaseous medium [1, 5]. Previously unknown optical effects caused by consideration of high-order quantum correlators were discovered. This is caused by the problem of calculation of high-order photonic correlators starting from the fourth order, which appears when the interaction between the quantum electromagnetic field is described using the Feynman diagrams, According to T.A. Matsubara’s technique applied nowadays, these correlators are just neglected. The author’s articles [1, 5] describe the calculation method allowing us to avoid thiscomplication. The method is based on the following. High-order quantum correlators appear when multi-particle problems are studied. If the number of particles is small (hydrogen atom), the problem disappears. Therefore, if we replace a multi-particle problem with a single-particle problem (even if this particle is rather complex), the problem will be solved. Such solution (by using the Γ-operators technique) is described in the said author’s articles. While the standard secondary quantisation technique uses operators of creation and destruction of separate particles, the Γ-operators technique deals with operators of creation and destruction of photon conglomerates (systems). It turns out that high-order correlators just do not appear when the Γ-operators technique is used. This article demonstrates a specific example of application of the Γ-technique.

Dynamical Casimir effects with atoms: From the emission of photon pairs to geometric phases

The coupling between a moving ground-state atom and the quantum electromagnetic field is at the origin of several intriguing phenomena ranging from the dynamical Casimir emission of photons to Sagnac-like geometric phase shifts in atom interferometers. Recent progress in this emerging field reveals unprecedented connections between non-trivial aspects of modern physics such as electrodynamic retardation, non-unitary evolution in open quantum systems, geometric phases, non-locality and inertia.

Effective theory of lattice electrons strongly coupled to quantum electromagnetic fields

Recent experiments have revealed the tantalizing possibility of fabricating lattice electronic systems strongly coupled to quantum fluctuations of electromagnetic fields, e.g., by means of geometry confinement from a cavity or artificial gauge fields in quantum simulators. In this work, we develop a high-frequency expansion to construct the effective models for lattice electrons strongly coupled to a continuum of off-resonant photon modes with arbitrary dispersion. The theory is nonperturbative in the light-matter coupling strength, and is therefore particularly suitable for the ultrastrong light-matter coupling regime. Using the effective models, we demonstrate how the dispersion and topology of the electronic energy bands can be tuned by the cavity. In particular, quasi-one-dimensional physics can emerge in a two-dimensional square lattice due to a spatially anisotropic band renormalization, and a topologically nontrivial anomalous quantum Hall state can be induced in a honeycomb lattice when the cavity setup breaks time-reversal symmetry. We also demonstrate that the photon-mediated interaction induces an unconventional superconducting paired phase distinct from the pair-density-wave state discussed in models with truncated light-matter coupling. Finally, we study a realistic setup of a Fabry-P\'{e}rot cavity. Our work provides a systematic framework to explore the emergent phenomena due to strong light-matter coupling and points out new directions of engineering orders and topological states in solids.

Quantized quasinormal-mode theory of coupled lossy and amplifying resonators

In the presence of arbitrary three-dimensional linear media with material loss and amplification, we present an electromagnetic field quantization scheme for quasinormal modes (QNMs), extending previous work for lossy media [Franke et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 213901 (2019)]. Applying a symmetrization transformation, we show two fundamentally different ways for constructing a QNM photon Fock space, including (i) where there is a separate operator basis for both gain and loss, and (ii) where the loss and gain degrees of freedom are combined into a single basis. These QNM operator bases are subsequently used to derive the associated QNM master equations, including the interaction with a quantum emitter, modelled as a quantized two-level system (TLS). We then compare the two different quantization approaches, and also show how commonly used phenomenological methods to quantize light in gain-loss resonators are corrected by several important aspects, such as a loss-induced and gain-induced intermode coupling, which appears through the rigorous treatment of loss and amplification on a dissipative mode level. For specific resonator designs, modelled in a fully consistent way with the classical Maxwell equations with open boundary conditions, we then present numerical results for the quantum parameters and observables of a TLS weakly interacting with the medium-assisted field in a gain-loss microdisk resonator system, and discuss the validity of the different quantization approaches for several gain-loss parameter regimes.

Effective Hamiltonians in Nonrelativistic Quantum Electrodynamics

In this paper, we consider some second-order effective Hamiltonians describing the interaction of the quantum electromagnetic field with atoms or molecules in the nonrelativistic limit. Our procedure is valid only for off-energy-shell processes, specifically virtual processes such as those relevant for ground-state energy shifts and dispersion van der Waals and Casimir-Polder interactions, while on-energy-shell processes are excluded. These effective Hamiltonians allow for a considerable simplification of the calculation of radiative energy shifts, dispersion, and Casimir-Polder interactions, including in the presence of boundary conditions. They can also provide clear physical insights into the processes involved. We clarify that the form of the effective Hamiltonian depends on the field states considered, and consequently different expressions can be obtained, each of them with a well-defined range of validity and possible applications. We also apply our results to some specific cases, mainly the Lamb shift, the Casimir-Polder atom-surface interaction, and the dispersion interactions between atoms, molecules, or, in general, polarizable bodies.

Entanglement of two dipole-coupled qubits induced by a thermal field of one-mode lossless cavity with Kerr medium

We studied the dynamics of two qubits interacting with one-mode thermal quantum electromagnetic field of microwave cavity with Kerr medium. Using the exact solution for considered model we derived the qubit-qubit negativity for separa coherent initial qubits states. We showed that initial qubits coherencee interaction can greatly enhance the degree of qubits entanglement in the presence of the Kerr nonlinearity and dipole-dipole interactionyeven for high thermal field intensities.

Entanglement of two dipole-couples qubits induced by a thermal field of a cavity with Kerr medium

In the present work, we investigated the dynamics of two identical superconducting qubits interacting with the mode of the quantum electromagnetic field of a microwave coplanar cavity with a Kerr medium in the presence of an effective dipole-dipole interaction of the qubits. We have found an exact solution of the quantum Liouville equation for the complete density matrix of the system under consideration for the Fock and thermal chaotic initial states of the cavityr field. The exact solution for the full density matrix was used to determine the reduced qubit density matrix and to calculate the entanglement parameter concurrence. Computer simulation of the time dependence of the concurrshowed that for certain initial states of qubits, their entanglement can be significantly increased in the presence of a Kerr medium and direct dipole-dipole interaction.

Aharonov-Casher and shielded Aharonov-Bohm effects with a quantum electromagnetic field

We use a covariant formalism that is capable of describing the electric and magnetic versions of the Aharonov-Bohm effect, as well as the Aharonov-Casher effect, through local interactions of charges and currents with the quantum electromagnetic field. By considering that only local interactions of a quantum particle with the quantum field can affect its behavior, we show that the magnetic Aharonov-Bohm effect must be present even if the solenoid generating the magnetic field is shielded by a perfect conductor, as experimentally demonstrated.

Field quantization in quantum plasmas: Photon and plasmon charge and mass

AbstractWe study electromagnetic field quantization in isotropic quantum plasmas, thus connecting two distinct problems of quantum plasma physics. We include plasmons and transverse photon states. We show that field quantization in a plasma is equivalent to that of massive boson fields and discuss the qualitative differences with respect to standard quantization in a vacuum. We consider nonlinear effects and show that photon and plasmon charges can be associated with the ponderomotive force. We also discuss the conservation properties of these affective charges during nonlinear mixing processes. The existence of photon and plasmon charge and mass could be relevant to laboratory experiments and to astrophysics.

Velocity effect on the stimulated transition process of a multilevel atom in a thermal bath

This paper investigates the stimulated transition process of a uniformly moving atom in interaction with a thermal bath of the quantum electromagnetic field. Using the perturbation theory, the atomic stimulated emission and absorption rates are calculated. The results indicate that the atomic transition rates depend crucially on the atomic velocity, the temperature of the thermal bath, and the atomic polarizability. As these factors change, the atomic stimulated transition processes can be enhanced or weakened at different degrees. In particular, slowly moving atoms in the thermal bath with high temperature (Tgg omega _{0}) perceive a smaller effective temperature T big ( 1-frac{1}{10} v^{2} big ) for the polarizability perpendicular to the atomic velocity or T big ( 1-frac{3}{10} v^{2} big ) for the polarizability parallel to the atomic velocity. However, ultra-relativistic atoms perceive no influence of the background thermal bath. In turn, in terms of the atomic transition rates, this paper explores and examines the relativity of temperature of the quantum electromagnetic field.

Direction of arrival estimation method based on quantum electromagnetic field optimization in the impulse noise

In order to resolve direction finding problems in the impulse noise, a direction of arrival (DOA) estimation method is proposed. The proposed DOA estimation method can restrain the impulse noise by using infinite norm exponential kernel co-variance matrix and obtain excellent performance via the maximum-likelihood (ML) algorithm. In order to obtain the global optimal solutions of this method, a quantum electromagnetic field optimization (QEFO) algorithm is designed. In view of the QEFO algorithm, the proposed method can resolve the difficulties of DOA estimation in the impulse noise. Comparing with some traditional DOA estimation methods, the proposed DOA estimation method shows high superiority and robustness for determining the DOA of independent and coherent sources, which has been verified via the Monte-Carlo experiments of different schemes, especially in the case of snapshot deficiency, low generalized signal to noise ratio (GSNR) and strong impulse noise. Beyond that, the Cramér-Rao bound (CRB) of angle estimation in the impulse noise and the proof of the convergence of the QEFO algorithm are provided in this paper.

On the Electromagnetic Vacuum Origins of Dark Energy, Dark Matter, and Astrophysical Jets

We use a semiclassical version of the Nexus paradigm of quantum gravity in which the quantum vacuum at large scales is dominated by the second quantized electromagnetic field to demonstrate that a virtual photon field can affect the geometric evolution of Einstein manifolds or Ricci solitons. This phenomenon offers a cogent explanation of the origins of astrophysical jets, the cosmological constant, and a means of detecting galactic dark matter.

Local Description of the Aharonov–Bohm Effect with a Quantum Electromagnetic Field

In the seminal works from Santos and Gozalo [Europhys. Lett. $\mathbf{45}$, 418 (1999)] and Marletto and Vedral [Phys. Rev. Lett. $\mathbf{125}$, 040401 (2020)], it is shown how the Aharonov-Bohm effect can be described as the result of an exchange of virtual photons between the solenoid and the quantum charged particle along its propagation through the interferometer, where both the particle and the solenoid interact locally with the quantum electromagnetic field. This interaction results in a local and gauge-independent phase generation for the particle propagation in each path of the interferometer. Here we improve the cited treatments by using the quantum electrodynamics formalism in the Lorentz gauge, with a manifestly gauge-independent Hamiltonian for the interaction and the presence of virtual longitudinal photons. Only with this more complete and gauge-independent treatment it is possible to justify the acquired phases for interferometers with arbitrary geometries, and this is an advantage of our treatment. We also extend the results to the electric version of the Aharonov-Bohm effect. Finally, we propose an experiment that could test the locality of the Aharonov-Bohm phase generation.

Quantum delocalization, gauge, and quantum optics: Light-matter interaction in relativistic quantum information

We revisit the interaction of a first-quantized atomic system (consisting of two charged quantum particles) with the quantum electromagnetic field, pointing out the subtleties related to the gauge nature of electromagnetism and the effect of multipole approximations. We connect the full minimal-coupling model with the typical effective models used in quantum optics and relativistic quantum information such as the Unruh-DeWitt (UDW) model and the dipole coupling approximation. We point out in what regimes different degrees of approximation are reasonable and in what cases effective models need to be refined to capture the features of the light-matter interaction. This is particularly important when considering the center of mass (COM) of the atom as a quantum system that can be delocalized over multiple trajectories. For example, we show that the simplest UDW approximation with a quantum COM fails to capture crucial R\"ontgen terms coupling COM and internal atomic degrees of freedom with each other and the field. Finally we show how effective dipole interaction models can be covariantly prescribed for relativistically moving atoms.

Quantization and Structure of Electromagnetic and Gravitational Fields

Following Relativistic Alpha Field Theory (RAFT) here it is started with the solution of the field parameters α and α′ in the combined electromagnetic and gravitational fields. The field parameters α and α′ are described as the functions of the particle charge, particle mass, electrical potential, gravitational potential, gravitational constant, gravitational mass and speed of the light in vacuum. The mentioned parameters are presented by using identity between the constant ratio of Planck mass and Planck length and between gravitational mass and gravitational length. It is shown that the minimal electrical length is limited by the electric charges or by the electrical particle mass. It is also confirmed that the energy conservation constant is valid both in an electromagnetic central symmetric field as well as in a gravitational field. Further, the numerical quantities of the minimal and maximal radial densities for the spherically symmetric particles are also valid in the central symmetric electromagnetic fields, as well as, in the gravitational fields. The quantization of the combination of the central symmetric electromagnetic and gravitational fields is dominant in the region of the minimal length and twice of that length. Therefore, the quantization is applied to the mentioned region, both in central symmetric electrical fields and in the combination of the central symmetric electrical and gravitational fields. It is determined that the minimal distance between two quantum states should be less than 10-35 m. The related minimal transition time can be obtained by using the transition speed equal to the speed of the light in vacuum. Calculation of the energy uncertainty, the shortest transition time, the generic state, the shortest physically possible time and the time effectively spent by the controlled system or control algorithm are presented systematically. The mentioned parameters are calculated both in the case of central symmetric electrical field, as well as, in the combination of the electrical and gravitational fields.

Testing the quantization of electromagnetic field in a quarter-wavelength transmission line resonator by traveling-wave scattering measurements

A half-wavelength cavity, wherein the electromagnetic field is quantized as standing-wave photons, is a typical artificial quantum system that has widely been used to implement quantum information processing. In this paper, we propose an approach to confirm the quantization of the electromagnetic field in another type of cavity, namely, a quarter-wavelength transmission line resonator (TLR), by using traveling-photon scattering measurements. Furthermore, we show that the number of photons in a TLR can be destructively detected by using the usual IQ-mixed technique. We hope that quarter-wavelength TLRs may also serve as quantum devices to implement on-chip solid-state quantum information processing.

Energy, Information, and Superluminal Speed in Quantum Electrodynamics

Without using the perturbation theory, the article demonstrates a possibility of superluminal information-carrying signals in standard quantum electrodynamics using the example of scattering of quantum electromagnetic field by an excited atom.

Electromagnetic coupling in tight-binding models for strongly correlated light and matter

We discuss the construction of low-energy tight-binding Hamiltonians for condensed matter systems with a strong coupling to the quantum electromagnetic field. Such Hamiltonians can be obtained by projecting the continuum theory on a given set of Wannier orbitals. However, different representations of the continuum theory lead to different low-energy formulations, because different representations may entangle light and matter, transforming orbitals into light-matter hybrid states before the projection. In particular, a multi-center Power-Zienau-Woolley transformation yields a dipolar Hamiltonian which incorporates the light-matter coupling via both Peierls phases and a polarization density. We compare this dipolar gauge Hamiltonian and the straightforward Coulomb gauge Hamiltonian for a one-dimensional solid, to describe sub-cycle light-driven electronic motion in the semiclassical limit, and a coupling of the solid to a quantized cavity mode which renormalizes the band-structure into electron-polariton bands. Both descriptions yield the same result when many bands are taken into account, but the dipolar Hamiltonian is more accurate when the model is restricted to few electronic bands, while the Coulomb Hamiltonian requires fewer electromagnetic modes.