Atom in an overdamped cavity: influence functional approach
Emmanouil George Thrapsaniotis · Journal of Modern Optics · 2006
The present paper considers a new approach to the case of an atom in an overdamped cavity. The dissipation is modelled via a bath of harmonic oscillators coupled to the cavity mode, which is assumed to be in a coherent state when the atom enters the cavity. The path integral over both the cavity mode and the bath is taken to derive the optically active electron's influence functional, which can be used further in the study of the time asymptotic dynamics of the internal states of any atom coupled with the cavity mode by using Monte Carlo methods. More specifically the present paper considers the dynamics of the ground state of hydrogen. Oscillations are observed in the survival probability of its ground state, which for asymptotic results is always smaller than one.