Symmetries of Spontaneous Decay for Atoms Near Any Surface
Abstract
The structure of spontaneous decay of atoms in the vicinity of a surface is shown to be determined by spatial symmetries. The spontaneous decay operator for a degenerate two level atom is derived, and with symmetry considerations the number of free parameters is reduced to two. Only the dimensionless and normalized inverse lifetimes b-parallel and b-perpendicular for a parallel and perpendicular dipole moment with respect to the surface, respectively, enter the expression for the relaxation operator for any atom near any surface. These two parameters incorporate the atom surface distance dependence of all Einstein coefficients for spontaneous decay, and all optical properties of the substrate material. It is shown that the specific features of spontaneous decay are mainly geometrical, and a consequence of symmetries of the vacuum radiation field, irrespective of the presence of the atom. With an example it is shown how the parameters b-parallel and b-perpendicular can be calculated in a particular case. It is also pointed out that an explicit quantization of the radiation field can be avoided, even though the process of spontaneous emission is purely quantum mechanical. Keywords: Symmetries, Spontaneous decay, Atoms, Near surface, Parallel dipoles, Einstein coefficients, Perpendicular dipoles.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1988
- Accession Number
- ADA197642
Entities
People
- Henk F. Arnoldus
- Thomas F. George
Organizations
- University at Buffalo