Extending the validity range of quantum optical master equations

Adam Stokes*, Andreas Kurcz, Timothy Paul Spiller, Almut Beige

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This paper derives master equations for an atomic two-level system for a large set of unitarily equivalent Hamiltonians without employing the rotating-wave and certain Markovian approximations. Each Hamiltonian refers to physically different components as representing the "atom" and as representing the "field" and hence results in a different master equation, when assuming a photon absorbing environment. It is shown that the master equations associated with the minimal-coupling and the multipolar Hamiltonians predict enormous stationary state narrow-band photon emission rates, even in the absence of external driving, for current experiments with single quantum dots and color centers in diamond. These seem to confirm that the rotating-wave Hamiltonian identifies the components of the atom-field system most accurately.

Original languageEnglish
Article number053805
JournalPhysical Review A
Volume85
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 4 May 2012

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