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Free keywords:
SPONTANEOUS EMISSION; FREE-SPACE; QUANTUM ELECTRODYNAMICS; OPTICAL
CAVITY; SINGLE-PHOTON; ONE-ATOM; LIGHT; FIELD; GENERATION; EXCITATIONOptics; Physics;
Abstract:
We investigate the quantum electrodynamics of a single two-level atom located at the focus of a parabolic cavity. We first work out the modifications of the spontaneous emission induced by the presence of this boundary in the optical regime, where the dipole and the rotating-wave approximations apply. Furthermore, the single-photon state that leaves the cavity asymptotically is determined. The corresponding time-reversed single-photon quantum state is capable of exciting the atom in this extreme multimode scenario with near-unit probability. Using semiclassical methods, we derive a photon-path representation for the relevant transition amplitudes and show that it constitutes a satisfactory approximation for a wide range of wavelengths.
