Lifetime distribution of spontaneous emission from an assembly of atoms in a dielectric slab

Journal Article · Sat Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 2003 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.67.035802· OSTI ID:20633909

Fuhe, Wang; Yunsong, Zhou ^[1]; Xuehua, Wang; Benyuan, Gu ^[2]

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1. Department of Physics, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100037 (China)
2. CCAST (World Laboratory), P.O. Box 8730, Beijing 100080 (China)

Spontaneous decay behavior from an assembly of atoms (or molecules) in a dielectric slab sandwiched by two dielectric semi-infinite spaces with arbitrary refractive indices is investigated. We introduce a lifetime distribution function to describe decay kinetics. The zero-point fluctuations of the electromagnetic field are calculated as a function of the position of atom in the slab. They display a symmetric profile with respect to the central plane of the slab in symmetric structure sample and the contributions of the guided modes and the radiation modes components both exhibit cosinelike variation with a base but with a phase difference of {pi}. With the increase of the thickness of the slab, the oscillations become dense. In contrast, for the asymmetric structure case, the related curves are asymmetric with respect to the middle plane of slab and exhibit considerably distorted cosinelike oscillations. The dependence of the spontaneous emission rate of atoms on the thickness of the slab and the refractive indices of substrate also is surveyed. Our calculations show that quite wide or narrow lifetime distribution can occur for different thicknesses of the slab. The coexistence of both accelerated and inhibited decay processes appears. The calculated results are in good agreement with experimental results.

• OSTI ID: 20633909
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Journal Name: Physical Review. A Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 67; ISSN 1050-2947; ISSN PLRAAN
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ASYMMETRY
ATOMS
DECAY
DIELECTRIC MATERIALS
DISTRIBUTION
DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONS
ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS
FLUCTUATIONS
KINETICS
LIFETIME
MOLECULES
OSCILLATIONS
PHOTON EMISSION
QUANTUM MECHANICS
REFRACTIVE INDEX
SLABS
SUBSTRATES
THICKNESS