Collective excitations in circular atomic configurations, and single-photon traps
| dc.creator | Hammer, Hanno | |
| dc.date | 2004-02-09 | |
| dc.date | 2004-06-16 | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-07-07T06:20:39Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-07-07T06:20:39Z | |
| dc.description | Correlated excitations in a plane circular configuration of identical atoms with parallel dipole moments are investigated. The collective energy eigenstates, their level shifts and decay rates are computed utilizing a decomposition of the atomic state space into carrier spaces for the irreducible representations of the symmetry group $\ZZ_N$ of the circle. It is shown that the index $p$ of these representations can be used as a quantum number analogously to the orbital angular momentum quantum number $l$ in hydrogen-like systems. Just as the hydrogen s-states are the only electronic wave functions which can occupy the central region of the Coulomb potential, the quasi-particle corresponding to a collective excitation of the atoms in the circle can occupy the central atom only for vanishing $\ZZ_N$ quantum number $p$. If a central atom is present, the $p=0$ state splits into two and shows level-crossing at certain radii; in the regions between these radii, damped Rabi oscillations between two "extreme" $p=0$ configurations occur. The physical mechanisms behind super- and subradiance at a given radius and the divergence of the level shifts at small interatomic distances are discussed. It is shown that, beyond a certain critical number of atoms in the circle, the lifetime of the maximally subradiant state increases exponentially with the number of atoms in the configuration, making the system a natural candidate for a {\it single-photon trap}. | |
| dc.description | Shortened version, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. A | |
| dc.identifier | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0402065 | |
| dc.identifier | http://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0402065 | |
| dc.identifier | Phys. Rev. A 70, 023803 (2004) | |
| dc.identifier | doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.70.023803 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/95378 | |
| dc.subject | Quantum Physics | |
| dc.subject | Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics | |
| dc.subject | Other Condensed Matter | |
| dc.subject | Atomic and Molecular Clusters | |
| dc.title | Collective excitations in circular atomic configurations, and single-photon traps | |
| dc.type | text |