Two-level Atomic System Research Articles

Spontaneous emission can locally create quantum discord out of classical correlations

We consider local time evolution given by spontaneous emission in the system of independent two-level atoms. It is shown that all classically correlated initial states are driven into the states with transient non-zero quantum discord. Thus local creation of genuine quantum correlations can be observed in a simple physical system of non-interacting atoms which are not completely isolated from the environment.

Comparison of dressed probe transmission, four-wave mixing, and fluorescence in multilevel systems

We report our observations on probe transmission, four-wave mixing (FWM), and fluorescence signals with dressing effect in two V-type three-level as well as in two two-level atomic systems. According to the phenomena observed in such systems, we find that the dressing effect at the same energy level can be affected by hyperfine structure and at different energy levels by transition dipole moment. We also find that both the x- and y-directional spatial splittings of probe beam and FWM signals are affected greatly by the dressing effect, which can also control the spatial shift and focusing of FWM signal. Studies on such controllable beam splitting can be very useful in understanding spatial pattern formation and applications of spatial signal processing.

Simulating open quantum systems by applying SU(4) to quantum master equations

We show that open quantum systems of two-level atoms symmetrically coupled to a single-mode photon field can be efficiently simulated by applying a SU(4) group theory to quantum master equations. This is important since many foundational examples in quantum optics fall into this class. We demonstrate the method by finding exact solutions for many-atom open quantum systems such as lasing and steady state superradiance.

Efficiency at maximum power of a heat engine working with a two-level atomic system

We consider the finite-time operation of a quantum heat engine whose working substance is composed of a two-level atomic system. The engine cycle, consisting of two quantum adiabatic and two quantum isochoric (constant-frequency) processes and working between two heat reservoirs at temperatures T(h) and T(c)(<T(h)), is a quantum version of the classical Otto cycle. By optimizing the power output with respect to two frequencies, we obtain the efficiency at maximum power output (EMP) and analyze numerically the effects of the times taken for two adiabatic and two isochoric processes on the EMP. In the absence of internally dissipative friction, we find that the EMP is bounded from the upper side by a function of the Carnot efficiency η(C), η(+)=η(C)(2)/[η(C)-(1-η(C))ln(1-η(C))], with η(C)=1-T(c)/T(h). This analytic expression is confirmed by our exact numerical result and is identical to the one derived in an engine model based on a mesoscopic or macroscopic system. If the internal friction is included, we find that the EMP decreases as the friction coefficient increases.

Coherent control of dressed images of four-wave mixing

In two-level as well as V-type three-level atomic systems, we study probe transmission, four-wave mixing (FWM) and fluorescence signals with dressing effect experimentally and theoretically. We find both the hyperfine structure (at the same energy level) and the transition dipole moment (at different energy levels) can affect the dressing effect. We also experimentally investigate that angle-control dynamics in the nonlinear propagation of the images of the probe and generated FWM in two-level atomic systems, and find that the focusing and defocusing of probe beam and FWM signals can be greatly affected by the angles between dressing fields.

Frequency-modulated few-cycle optical-pulse-train-induced controllable ultrafast coherent population oscillations in two-level atomic systems

We report a study on the ultrafast coherent population oscillations (UCPOs) in two-level atoms induced by a frequency-modulated few-cycle optical pulse train. The phenomenon of UCPOs is investigated by numerically solving the optical Bloch equations beyond the rotating wave approximation. We demonstrate that the quantum state of the atoms and the frequency of the UCPOs may be controlled by controlling the number of pulses in the pulse trains and the pulse repetition time, respectively. Moreover, the robustness of the population inversion against the variation of the laser pulse parameters is also investigated. The proposed scheme may be useful for the creation of atoms in selected quantum states for desired time duration and may have potential applications in ultrafast optical switching. The scheme may also be used to measure pulse repetition rate.

Amplification and suppression of system-bath-correlation effects in an open many-body system

Understanding the rich dynamics of open quantum systems is of fundamental interest to quantum control and quantum information processing. By considering an open system of many identical two-level atoms interacting with a common bath, we show that effects of system-bath correlations are amplified in a many-body system via the generation of a short time scale inversely proportional to the number of atoms. Effects of system-bath correlations are therefore considerable even when each individual atom interacts with the bath weakly. We further show that correlation-induced dynamical effects may still be suppressed via the dynamical decoupling approach, but they present a challenge for quantum state protection as the number of atom increases.

Revival times at quantum phase transitions

The concept of quantum revivals is extended to many-body systems and the implications of traversing a quantum phase transition are explored. By analyzing two different models, the vibron model for the bending of polyatomic molecules and the Dicke model for a quantum radiation field interacting with a system of two-level atoms, we show evidence of revival behavior for wave packets centered around energy levels as low as the fundamental state. Away from criticality, revival times exhibit smooth, nonsingular behavior, and are proportional to the system size. Upon approaching a quantum critical point, they diverge as a power law and scale with the system size, although the scaling is no longer linear.

Nonlinear ground-state pump-probe spectroscopy in an ultracold rubidium system

We present results of our experimental investigations of nonlinear ground-state pump-probe spectroscopy in ultracold ${}^{85}$Rb collected in a magneto-optical trap. These measurements represent an extension of a similar pump-probe spectroscopy in a two-level atomic system when strongly driven by a near-resonant pump beam. In the present three-level system, coherence-induced gain at the probe laser frequency can be observed at specific frequencies within the spectrum. The absorption or gain spectra that we observe resemble those of the two-level gain spectra, but different interference processes lead to features that are not present in the two-level case. We describe our measurements of this interaction in this work.

Relative Energy Shift of a Two-Level Atom in a Cylindrical Spacetime

We investigate the evolution dynamics of a two-level atom system interacting with the massless scalar field in a Cylindrical spacetime. We find that both the energy shifts of ground state and excited state can be separated into two parts due to the vacuum fluctuations. One is the corresponding energy shift for a rest atom in four-dimensional Minkowski space without spatial compactification, the other is just the modification of the spatial compactified periodic length. It will reveal that the influence of the presence of one spatial compactified dimension can not be neglected in Lamb shift as the relative energy level shift of an atom.

Observation of Angle Switching of Dressed Four-Wave Mixing Image

We experimentally report that angle-control dynamics in the nonlinear propagation of the images of the probe, generated four-wave mixing (FWM) and fluorescence signals beams in FWM process in a cascade three-level, as well as a two-level atomic systems. It is shown that, by changing the angles between pumping fields and dressing fields, respectively, the characteristics of the measured signals including the spectra intensity and spatial images can be controlled to display many effects, including the electromagnetically induced transparency and absorption (EIT and EIA, respectively) and Autler-Townes splitting. In particular, we demonstrate the angle-controlled switching from EIA to EIT in probe transmission or from enhancement to suppression in FWM signal. Additionally, we also illustrate the interaction between spatial characteristics and spectra intensities of weak fields. The studies can be very useful in producing all optical-signal-processing devices, such as spatial beam splitters, routers, and switches.

Phase transition for coupled atom-light states in the presence of optical collisions

The problem of photon phase transition in a system of two-level atoms interacting with a quantized single-mode electromagnetic field in the presence of optical collisions is discussed. The photon field is shown to undergo a high-temperature second order phase transition into the coherent (superradiant) state at large negative values of atom-field detuning and under the condition of thermalization of coupled atom-light states.

Observation of multi-component spatial vector solitons of four-wave mixing

We report the observation of multi-component dipole and vortex vector solitons composed of eight coexisting four-wave mixing (FWM) signals in two-level atomic system. The formation and stability of the multi-component dipole and vortex vector solitons are observed via changing the experiment parameters, including the frequency detuning, powers, and spatial configuration of the involved beams and the temperature of the medium. The transformation between modulated vortex solitons and rotating dipole solitons is observed at different frequency detunings. The interaction forces between different components of vector solitons are also investigated.

Characteristics of Femtosecond Laser Interaction with the Two-Level Atom System in Optical Materials

With the development of laser technology, the femtosecond laser has been more and more extensively used both on scientific research and practical application. The interaction of femtosecond laser with two-level atoms in optical materials was discussed. The evolution of femtosecond pulse in resonant atomic medium with long distance, and the influence of the distribution of the laser field amplitude, which were Gaussian, hyperbolic secant, and asymmetric hyperbolic secant, on the two-level atomic transition probability is presented. Also the dynamic analysis of temporal evolution of atomic transition in a two-level system under the radiation of the frequency-chirped field in optical materials is analyzed.

All-Optical Control of an Individual Resonance in a Silicon Microresonator

We experimentally demonstrate selective control of the Q and transmission of an individual resonance of an optical microcavity by optically controlling its intracavity loss via inverse Raman scattering. A strongly overcoupled resonance is brought into critical coupling with continuous tuning of the on-resonance transmission by >9 dB and reduction of the intrinsic Q factor by more than a factor of five. Adjacent resonances experience minimal disturbance and can be selectively controlled by tuning the control beam to the appropriate control resonance. These dynamics are analogous to Zeno effects observed in decoherence-driven atomic ensembles and two-level systems.

Extending the validity range of quantum optical master equations

This paper derives master equations for an atomic two-level system for a large set of unitarily equivalent Hamiltonians without employing the rotating wave and certain Markovian approximations. Each Hamiltonian refers to physically different components as representing the "atom" and as representing the "field" and hence results in a different master equation, when assuming a photon-absorbing environment. It is shown that the master equations associated with the minimal coupling and the multipolar Hamiltonians predict enormous stationary state narrowband photon emission rates, even in the absence of external driving, for current experiments with single quantum dots and colour centers in diamond. These seem to confirm that the rotating wave Hamiltonian identifies the components of the atom-field system most accurately.

Fully efficient adiabatic frequency conversion of broadband Ti:sapphire oscillator pulses

By adiabatic difference-frequency generation in an aperiodically poled nonlinear crystal-a nonlinear optical analog of rapid adiabatic passage in a two-level atomic system-we demonstrate the conversion of a 110 nm band from an octave-spanning Ti:sapphire oscillator to the infrared, spanning 1550 to 2450 nm, with near-100% internal conversion efficiency. The experiment proves the principle of complete Landau-Zener adiabatic transfer in nonlinear optical wave mixing. Our implementation is a practical approach to the seeding of high-energy ultrabroadband optical parametric chirped pulse amplifiers.

Observable Berry Phase for Charge Qubit in a Dissipative Environment

A geometric phase of open system is directly obtained from Schrodinger equation with a hermitian Hamiltonian of a two-level atomic system interacting with its reservoirs. We find that the dynamical phases are proportional to the geometric phases in terms of Weisskopf-Wigner theory in the rotational frame. Thus an effective scheme to measure the Berry phase in a charge qubit dissipative system is proposed by coherently controlling the macroscopic quantum states formed in superconducting circuits. Our approach does not need any operations to cancel the dynamical phases so as to reduce the experimental errors. Furthermore, we find that the dissipative effects can be overcome by choosing adapted parameters of the superconducting circuit.

Single-atom localization via resonance-fluorescence photon statistics

We present a scheme for subwavelength single-atom localization that is based on the photon statistics measurement of the resonance fluorescence from the two-level atomic system. The photon number distribution of the resonance fluorescence depends on the position of the atom inside the standing-wave driving field via the position-dependent Rabi frequency. We show that this position-dependent Rabi frequency can be used to localize the atom within the subwavelength region.

Enhancement and suppression of spatial splitting four-wave mixing in atomic medium

We experimentally report on the evolution from singly-dressed to doubly-dressed four-wave mixing (FWM) process by controlling the powers of the probe, the pump and the dressing fields respectively. The differences in the enhancement and the suppression of FWM signal between the two-level and cascade three-level atomic systems are observed and explained by the multi-dressed effect theoretically. Both the x direction and the y direction spatial splittings of the degenerate-FWM (DWFM) beams are obtained. We also investigate the switch between the enhancement and the suppression of the DWFM signals and between its spatial splittings in x direction and y direction. The spatial splittings in x direction and y direction can be controlled by the relative position and the intensity of the involved laser beams. Such a study can be useful for optimizing the efficiency of the FWM process and providing potential applications in spatial signal processing.