Manifestation of classical wave delays in a fully quantized model of the scattering of a single photon

Abstract

We consider a fully quantized model of spontaneous emission, scattering, and absorption, and study propagation of a single photon from an emitting atom to a detector atom both with and without an intervening scatterer. We find an exact quantum analog to the classical complex analytic signal of an electromagnetic wave scattered by a medium of charged oscillators. This quantum signal exhibits classical phase delays. We define a time of detection which, in the appropriate limits, exactly matches the predictions of a classically defined delay for light propagating through a medium of charged oscillators. The fully quantized model provides a simple, unambiguous, and causal interpretation of delays that seemingly imply speeds greater than c in the region of anomalous dispersion.

18 pages, 4 figures, revised for clarity, typos corrrected

References in corpus (1)

• Ultra-Slow Light and Enhanced Nonlinear Optical Effects in a Coherently Driven Hot Atomic Gas

Cited by in corpus (3)

• The limits of the rotating wave approximation in the electromagnetic field propagation in a cavity
• Electromagnetically induced transparency and reduced speeds for single photons in a fully quantized model
• Ultrafast Excitation Exchange in a Maxwell-Fish-Eye Lens