Effect of the spatial inhomogeneity of a field in a micromaser experiment with the selective measurement of atomic states
A. V. Kozlovskiĭ · Optics and Spectroscopy · 2007
It is shown that the theoretical analysis of a micromaser experiment with the selective measurement of atomic states is impossible without consideration of the spatial structure of the field and of the statistical spread of the atomic velocities in the cavity. An approximate theory, ignoring the dynamic effects associated with the mentioned factors, yields not only quantitatively, but also qualitatively different theoretical predictions. The dynamics of the field and the mean number of photons in the trapping states realized in this case differ significantly from the predictions of the idealized standard theory used at present. Along with the process of establishment of the stationary Fock state of the field, under certain conditions, it appears possible to form the quasistationary quantum state of the field with large fluctuations of the number of photons, accompanied by the exit of the field from the cavity (“quasi-dissipation”), and the following stepwise transition into the state of the electromagnetic vacuum. It is shown that, under the conditions of the micromaser experiment, the information about the states of atoms, passed through the cavity, in the case considered, does not allow one to draw an unambiguous conclusion about the state of the field in the cavity.