https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2008-00108-1
Detuning effects in the vertical cold-atom micromaser
1
Laboratoire de Physique Théorique, Université de Toulouse III, CNRS, 31062 Toulouse, France
2
Institut de Physique Nucléaire, Atomique et de Spectroscopie, Université de Liège, Bât. B15, 4000 Liège, Belgium
Corresponding authors: a jmartin@irsamc.ups-tlse.fr - c T.Bastin@ulg.ac.be
Received:
25
March
2008
Revised:
9
May
2008
Published online:
6
June
2008
The quantum theory of the cold atom micromaser including the effects of gravity is established in the general case where the cavity mode and the atomic transition frequencies are detuned. We show that atoms which classically would not reach the interaction region are able to emit a photon inside the cavity. The system turns out to be extremely sensitive to the detuning and in particular to its sign. A method to solve the equations of motion for non resonant atom-field interaction and arbitrary cavity modes is presented.
PACS: 42.50.-p – Quantum optics / 42.50.Pq – Cavity quantum electrodynamics; micromasers / 37.10.Vz – Mechanical effects of light on atoms, molecules, and ions
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2008