Quantum theory of statistical radiation pressure in free space
- URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2104.13726v2
- Date: Tue, 5 Jul 2022 13:06:43 GMT
- Title: Quantum theory of statistical radiation pressure in free space
- Authors: Navdeep Arya, Navketan Batra, Kinjalk Lochan and Sandeep K. Goyal
- Abstract summary: Light is known to exert radiation pressure on any surface it is incident upon, via the transfer of momentum from the light to the surface.
We show that the interaction of an atom with light can lead to both repulsive and attractive forces due to the absorption and emission of photons.
- Score: 0.0
- License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
- Abstract: Light is known to exert radiation pressure on any surface it is incident
upon, via the transfer of momentum from the light to the surface. In general,
this force is assumed to be pushing or repulsive in nature. In this paper, we
present a complete quantum treatment of radiation pressure. We show that the
interaction of an atom with light can lead to both repulsive and attractive
forces due to the absorption and emission of photons, respectively. An atom
prepared in the excited state initially will experience a pulling force when
interacting with light. On the other hand, if the atom is prepared in the
ground state then the force will be repulsive while having the same magnitude
as in the earlier case. Therefore, for an ensemble of atoms, the direction of
the net force will be decided by the excited and ground state populations. In
the semi-classical treatment of light-matter interaction, the absorption and
emission processes have the same probability. Therefore the magnitudes of the
force in the two processes turn out to be the same. We obtain the effective
emission profile for an excited atom interacting with a quantum electromagnetic
field, and show that in the quantum treatment, despite these probabilities
being different, the magnitudes of the two statistical forces remain the same.
This can be explained by noting that the extra contribution in the emission
process is due to the interaction of the atom with the vacuum modes of the
electromagnetic field, which results in a symmetric emission profile,
contributing to a net zero force on the atoms in an ensemble. We further
identify the set of states of electromagnetic field which give rise to non-zero
momentum transfer to the atom.
Related papers
- Examples of Atoms Absorbing Photon via Schrödinger Equation and Vacuum Fluctuations [3.313485776871956]
We show that vacuum fluctuations can be the origin of randomness in absorption outcomes.
In the absence of a mechanism to introduce randomness, the Schr"odinger equation alone governs the time evolution of the process.
The Casimir effect, which is closely tied to vacuum fluctuations, presents a promising experimental avenue for validating this mechanism.
arXiv Detail & Related papers (2024-04-08T14:59:55Z) - Moving an Atom towards Right or Left Side by Applying Quantum Mechanical
Matter Wave Near a Surface [0.0]
This article demonstrates a matter wave-based manipulation scenario that gives rise to reversible lateral force on an atom.
By solving the time-independent Schrodinger equation and using the solution, quantum mechanical stress tensor formalism has been applied to compute the force acting on the particle.
arXiv Detail & Related papers (2023-04-19T18:18:35Z) - Motion induced excitation and electromagnetic radiation from an atom
facing a thin mirror [62.997667081978825]
We evaluate the probability of (de-)excitation and photon emission from a neutral, moving, non-relativistic atom, coupled to a quantum electromagnetic field and in the presence of a thin, perfectly conducting plane ("mirror")
Results extend to a more realistic model, where the would-be electron was described by a scalar variable, coupled to an (also scalar) vacuum field.
arXiv Detail & Related papers (2022-07-06T20:54:59Z) - Electromagnetically induced walking [0.0]
We show coherent periodic motion of single atoms in position space removing the Doppler broadening with strong coupling between the atom and a traveling light.
These results may have potential applications for the construction of atomtronic circuits.
arXiv Detail & Related papers (2022-02-10T03:28:02Z) - Light propagation and atom interferometry in gravity and dilaton fields [58.80169804428422]
We study the modified propagation of light used to manipulate atoms in light-pulse atom interferometers.
Their interference signal is dominated by the matter's coupling to gravity and the dilaton.
We discuss effects from light propagation and the dilaton on different atom-interferometric setups.
arXiv Detail & Related papers (2022-01-18T15:26:19Z) - Motion induced excitation and radiation from an atom facing a mirror [0.0]
We study quantum dissipative effects due to the non-relativistic, bounded, accelerated motion of a single neutral atom.
We compute the spontaneous emission rate of an oscillating atom that is initially in an excited state.
arXiv Detail & Related papers (2022-01-04T20:31:19Z) - The energetics of quantum vacuum friction: Field fluctuations [6.767887239634509]
Quantum fluctuations can induce a friction on a neutral but polarizable particle and cause it to radiate energy.
We calculate the quantum frictional power and force on the particle in the rest frame of the blackbody radiation.
We give an estimate of the quantum vacuum friction on a gold atom and comment on the feasibility of detecting such quantum vacuum frictional effects.
arXiv Detail & Related papers (2021-08-03T14:44:50Z) - Motion-induced radiation due to an atom in the presence of a graphene
plane [62.997667081978825]
We study the motion-induced radiation due to the non-relativistic motion of an atom in the presence of a static graphene plate.
We show that the effect of the plate is to increase the probability of emission when the atom is near the plate and oscillates along a direction perpendicular to it.
arXiv Detail & Related papers (2021-04-15T14:15:23Z) - Enhanced decoherence for a neutral particle sliding on a metallic
surface in vacuum [68.8204255655161]
We show that non-contact friction enhances the decoherence of the moving atom.
We suggest that measuring decoherence times through velocity dependence of coherences could indirectly demonstrate the existence of quantum friction.
arXiv Detail & Related papers (2020-11-06T17:34:35Z) - Collective spontaneous emission of two entangled atoms near an
oscillating mirror [50.591267188664666]
We consider the cooperative spontaneous emission of a system of two identical atoms, interacting with the electromagnetic field in the vacuum state.
Using time-dependent theory, we investigate the spectrum of the radiation emitted by the two-atom system.
We show that it is modulated in time, and that the presence of the oscillating mirror can enhance or inhibit the decay rate.
arXiv Detail & Related papers (2020-10-07T06:48:20Z) - Gravitational waves affect vacuum entanglement [68.8204255655161]
The entanglement harvesting protocol is an operational way to probe vacuum entanglement.
Using this protocol, it is demonstrated that while the transition probability of an individual atom is unaffected by the presence of a gravitational wave, the entanglement harvested by two atoms depends sensitively on the frequency of the gravitational wave.
This suggests that the entanglement signature left by a gravitational wave may be useful in characterizing its properties, and potentially useful in exploring the gravitational-wave memory effect and gravitational-wave induced decoherence.
arXiv Detail & Related papers (2020-06-19T18:01:04Z)
This list is automatically generated from the titles and abstracts of the papers in this site.
This site does not guarantee the quality of this site (including all information) and is not responsible for any consequences.