Theoretical Study of the Townes-Merritt Effect in Level Crossing Experiments

Abstract

A high resolution spectroscopic technique using a nonresonant RF field in a level crossing experiment is proposed. Absorption sidebands, originally observed by Townes and Merritt (1947), are analyzed using a quantum electrodynamic (QED) approach. A model is developed using the Heisenberg operator formalism and the adiabatic approximation to describe the atomic dynamics. Results agree with a dressed states approach and the original experiment. The model is extended to a three level atom to describe level crossings and quantum beats for linear and quadratic Stark shifted atoms. Expressions are developed to define level crossings conditions and estimate critical experimental parameters. Keywords: Spectroscopy; Level crossings; Quantum beats; Absorption sidebands; Nonlinear optics; Quantum optics; Theses. (jhd)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 1989
Accession Number
ADA214909

Entities

People

  • William R. White

Organizations

  • Air Force Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Sensors

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Absorption
  • Air Force
  • Detectors
  • Doppler Effect
  • Electric Fields
  • Electromagnetic Fields
  • Electronic Counter Countermeasures
  • Energy Levels
  • Equations Of Motion
  • Frequency
  • Ground State
  • High Resolution
  • Magnetic Fields
  • Quantum Beats
  • Quantum Electrodynamics
  • Spectroscopy
  • Wave Equations

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Calculus or Mathematical Analysis
  • Plasma Physics / Magnetohydrodynamics
  • Quantum Dot Semiconductor Device Photonics and Graphene Optoelectronic Materials and THz Physics.

Technology Areas

  • Quantum Computing