Quantum Electrodynamics near a Huttner-Barnett dielectric

Abstract

We build up a consistent theory of quantum electrodynamics in the presence of macroscopic polarizable media. We use the Huttner-Barnett model of a dispersive and absorbing dielectric medium and formulate the theory in terms of interacting quantum fields. We integrate out the damped polaritons by using diagrammatic techniques and find an exact expression for the displacement field (photon) propagator in the presence of a dispersive and absorbing dielectric half-space. This opens a new route to traceable perturbative calculations of the same kind as in free-space quantum electrodynamics. As a worked-through example we consider the interaction of a neutral atom with a dispersive and absorbing dielectric half-space. For that we use the multipolar coupling $\mathbf{\mu }\cdot \mathbf{D}$ of the atomic dipole moment to the electromagnetic displacement field. We apply the newly developed formalism to calculate the one-loop correction to the atomic electron propagator and find the energy-level shift and changes in the spontaneous decay rates for a neutral atom close to an absorptive dielectric mirror.

25 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (8)

• Field quantization in inhomogeneous absorptive dielectrics
• Logarithmic two-loop corrections to the Lamb shift in hydrogen
• Fano diagonalization of a polariton model for an inhomogeneous absorptive dielectric
• The van der Waals energy of atomic systems near absorbing and dispersing bodies
• Extension of the Huttner-Barnett model to a magnetodielectric medium
• Retarded Casimir-Polder force on an atom near reflecting microstructures
• Radiative-nonrecoil corrections of order alpha^2 (Z alpha)^5 to the Lamb shift
• Interaction of an atom with layered dielectrics

Cited by in corpus (13)

• Field theoretic description of partially reflective surfaces
• Monoatomically thin polarizable sheets
• Quantising the electromagnetic field near two-sided semi-transparent mirrors
• Born-series approach to the calculation of Casimir forces
• Anomalous magnetic moment of an electron near a dispersive surface
• Quantum electrodynamics near anisotropic polarizable materials: Casimir-Polder shifts near multi-layers of graphene
• Ground State Excitation of an Atom Strongly Coupled to a Free Quantum Field
• Exact Casimir-Polder potentials: interaction of an atom with a conductor-patched dielectric surface
• Magnetic moment of an electron near a surface with dispersion
• Damped oscillators within the general theory of Casimir and van der Waals forces
• The quantum optics of asymmetric mirrors with coherent light absorption
• Atom-Field-Medium Interactions I: Graded Influence Actions for $N$ Harmonic Atoms in a Dielectric-Altered Quantum Field
• Modified atomic decay rate near absorptive scatterers at finite temperature