Phase states for a three-level atom interacting with quantum fields

Abstract

We introduce phase operators associated with the algebra su(3), which is the appropriate tool to describe three-level systems. The rather unusual properties of this phase are caused by the small dimension of the system and are explored in detail. When a three-level atom interacts with a quantum field in a cavity, a polynomial deformation of this algebra emerges in a natural way. We also introduce a polar decomposition of the atom-field relative amplitudes that leads to a Hermitian relative-phase operator, whose eigenstates correctly describe the corresponding phase properties. We claim that this is the natural variable to deal with quantum interference effects in atom-field interactions. We find the probability distribution for this variable and study its time evolution in some special cases.

11 pages, 4 figures, submitted for publication to Phys. Rev. A

References in corpus (5)

• Ultra-Slow Light and Enhanced Nonlinear Optical Effects in a Coherently Driven Hot Atomic Gas
• On Nonlinear Angular Momentum Theories, Their Representations and Associated Hopf Structures
• Geometric Phase of Three-level Systems in Interferometry
• On some nonlinear extensions of the angular momentum algebra
• Comprehensive theory of the relative phase in atom-field interactions

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Quantum phases of a qutrit
• Symmetry Adapted Coherent States for Three-Level Atoms Interacting with One-Mode Radiation