Quantum noise and superluminal propagation

Physical Review A - Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics

Volumn 62, Issue 2, 2000, Pages 022114-022111

  Segev, Bilha ^a   Milonni, Peter W ^b   Babb, James F ^c   Chiao, Raymond Y ^d  

^a BEN GURION UNIVERSITY OF THE NEGEV   (Israel)

^b LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY   (United States)

^c HARVARD SMITHSONIAN CENTER FOR ASTROPHYSICS   (United States)

^d UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

APPROXIMATION THEORY; ATOMS; ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS; EQUATIONS OF MOTION; FLUORESCENCE; LIGHT AMPLIFIERS; MAXWELL EQUATIONS; PHOTONS; QUANTUM THEORY; REFRACTIVE INDEX; SIGNAL TO NOISE RATIO;

QUANTUM FLUCTUATIONS; QUANTUM NOISE; SHORT PULSE PROPAGATION; SUPERFLUORESCENCE; SUPERLUMINAL PROPAGATION; WAVE PACKET;

LIGHT PROPAGATION;

EID: 4243692854     PISSN: 10502947     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (23)

1. R. Y. Chiao, A. E. Kozhekin, and G. Kurizki, Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 1254 (1996).
2. R. Y. Chiao, Phys. Rev. A 48, R34 (1993).
3. R. Y. Chiao, in Amazing Light: A Volume Dedicated to Charles Hard Townes on his 80th Birthday, edited by R. Y. Chiao (Springer-Verlag, New York, 1996).
4. A. M. Steinberg, P. G. Kwiat, and R. Y. Chiao, Phys. Rev. Lett. 71, 708 (1993); R. Y. Chiao, P. G. Kwiat, and A. M. Steinberg, Sci. Am. (Int. Ed.) 269, 52 (1993); Quantum Semi- classic. Opt. 7, 259 (1995).
5. A. M. Steinberg, P. G. Kwiat, and R. Y. Chiao, Phys. Rev. Lett. 71, 708 (1993); R. Y. Chiao, P. G. Kwiat, and A. M. Steinberg, Sci. Am. (Int. Ed.) 269, 52 (1993); Quantum Semi- classic. Opt. 7, 259 (1995).
6. A. M. Steinberg, P. G. Kwiat, and R. Y. Chiao, Phys. Rev. Lett. 71, 708 (1993); R. Y. Chiao, P. G. Kwiat, and A. M. Steinberg, Sci. Am. (Int. Ed.) 269, 52 (1993); Quantum Semi-classic. Opt. 7, 259 (1995).
7. A. M. Steinberg and R. Y. Chiao, Phys. Rev. A 51, 3525 (1995).
8. Ch. Spielmann, R. Szipöcs, A. Stingl, and F. Krausz, Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, 2308 (1994).
9. M. W. Mitchell and R. Y. Chiao, Phys. Lett. A 230, 133 (1997).
10. Y. Aharonov, B. Reznik, and A. Stern, Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 2190 (1998).
11. R. Glauber and F. Haake, Phys. Lett. 68A, 29 (1978); D. Polder, M. F. H. Schuurmans, and Q. H. F. Vrehen, Phys. Rev. A 19, 1192 (1979). A useful summary of the various time scales involved in superfluorescence is given by J. J. Maki, M. S. Malcuit, M. G. Raymer, R. W. Boyd, and P. D. Drummond, ibid. 40, 5135 (1989).
12. R. Glauber and F. Haake, Phys. Lett. 68A, 29 (1978); D. Polder, M. F. H. Schuurmans, and Q. H. F. Vrehen, Phys. Rev. A 19, 1192 (1979). A useful summary of the various time scales involved in superfluorescence is given by J. J. Maki, M. S. Malcuit, M. G. Raymer, R. W. Boyd, and P. D. Drummond, ibid. 40, 5135 (1989).
13. R. Glauber and F. Haake, Phys. Lett. 68A, 29 (1978); D. Polder, M. F. H. Schuurmans, and Q. H. F. Vrehen, Phys. Rev. A 19, 1192 (1979). A useful summary of the various time scales involved in superfluorescence is given by J. J. Maki, M. S. Malcuit, M. G. Raymer, R. W. Boyd, and P. D. Drummond, ibid. 40, 5135 (1989).
14. D. C. Burnham and R. Y. Chiao, Phys. Rev. 188, 667 (1969).
15. The factor 1/√π in Eq. (65) is a consequence of our assumption of a Gaussian temporal profile for the incident pulse. For an arbitrary pulse shape 1/√π would be replaced by some other factor less than unity.
16. g = c in the resonant case assumed in Eq. (42). Thus the appropriate "observation time" for SF is L/c.
17. The fact that we obtain the noise term appearing in the last line of Eq. (62) after an integration of the radiatively broadened gain profile over all frequencies is consistent with the assumption made in obtaining Eq. (62): the observation time was assumed to be small compared with the radiative decay time, implying a spectral bandwidth large compared with the gain bandwidth.
18. P. W. Milonni, J. R. Ackerhalt, and W. A. Smith, Phys. Rev. Lett. 31, 958 (1973).
19. G. Diener, Phys. Lett. A 223, 327 (1996).
20. An analogy to a two-slit experiment can be made: The enhancement of the signal on the screen at places of constructive interference is consistent with unitarity only if the destructive interference at other places is considered as well. The noise in the dark regions, however, is not canceled by any destructive interference of the signals from the two slits.
21. A classical treatment of the noise in the propagation of a superluminal pulse in a gain medium has been given by E. L. Bolda, Phys. Rev. A 54, 3514 (1996). For a treatment of superfluorescence in a continuously pumped medium, see also E. L. Bolda, R. Y. Chiao, and J. C. Garrison, ibid. 52, 3308 (1995).
22. A classical treatment of the noise in the propagation of a superluminal pulse in a gain medium has been given by E. L. Bolda, Phys. Rev. A 54, 3514 (1996). For a treatment of superfluorescence in a continuously pumped medium, see also E. L. Bolda, R. Y. Chiao, and J. C. Garrison, ibid. 52, 3308 (1995).
23. G. Kurizki, A. Kozhekin, and A. G. Kofman, Europhys. Lett. 42, 499 (1998).