Eur. Phys. J. D 38, 415-422 (2006)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2006-00076-4

Simplified approach to double jumps for fluorescing dipole-dipole interacting atoms

Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Göttingen, Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1, 37077 Göttingen, Germany

Corresponding author: ^a hegerf@theorie.physik.uni-geottingen.de

Received: 10 January 2006
Revised: 11 March 2006
Published online: 14 April 2006

Abstract

A simplified scheme for the investigation of cooperative effects in the quantum jump statistics of small numbers of fluorescing atoms and ions in a trap is presented. It allows the analytic treatment of three dipole-dipole interacting four-level systems which model the relevant level scheme of Ba⁺ ions. For the latter, a huge rate of double and triple jumps was reported in a former experiment and the huge rate was attributed to the dipole-dipole interaction. Our theoretical results show that the effect of the dipole-dipole interaction on these rates is at most 5% and that for the parameter values of the experiment there is practically no effect. Consequently it seems that the dipole-dipole interaction can be ruled out as a possible explanation for the huge rates reported in the experiment.