Thermal effects on the stability of excited atoms in cavities

Journal Article · Mon Mar 15 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.81.032119· OSTI ID:21408378

Khanna, F C; Malbouisson, A P. C.; Malbouisson, J M. C.; Santana, A E ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2J1 (Canada) and TRIUMF, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 2A3 (Canada)

An atom, coupled linearly to an environment, is considered in a harmonic approximation in thermal equilibrium inside a cavity. The environment is modeled by an infinite set of harmonic oscillators. We employ the notion of dressed states to investigate the time evolution of the atom initially in the first excited level. In a very large cavity (free space) for a long elapsed time, the atom decays and the value of its occupation number is the physically expected one at a given temperature. For a small cavity the excited atom never completely decays and the stability rate depends on temperature.

• OSTI ID: 21408378
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Vol. 81, Issue 3; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.81.032119; (c) 2010 The American Physical Society; ISSN 1050-2947
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
APPROXIMATIONS
ATOMS
DECAY
ENVIRONMENT
EVOLUTION
EXCITED STATES
HARMONIC OSCILLATORS
OCCUPATION NUMBER
STABILITY
THERMAL EQUILIBRIUM
CALCULATION METHODS
ENERGY LEVELS
EQUILIBRIUM