Georg M. Meyer

Dynamic control of micromaser and laser emission from driven three-level atoms

The master equations for the field in the micromaser and laser operating on three-level atoms driven by an external coherent field are presented, and exact solutions for the steady-state photon distributions are derived. We focus mainly on V-type atoms and study both the transient and steady-state behavior of the mean photon number and photon number fluctuations of the cavity field. It is shown that the external field enables us to control the photon statistics and to realize an optical NOT gate. In particular, we can enhance and suppress the maser and laser radiation and its intensity noise via mechanisms such as the dynamic Stark shift and lasing without inversion. An experimental scheme is suggested.

Atomic coherence effects within the sodium D1 manifold. III: Lasing without inversion via population trapping

Transient lasing without inversion has been experimentally demonstrated in sodium vapour. The principle of this atomic coherence effect can be well understood from the theory of a simple four-level system. The experimental results match with numerical simulations which take the complete hyperfine structure of the sodium D1 line into account. The differences between our system and a Raman laser are discussed.

Paradigm for Two-Photon Cascade Intensity Correlation Experiments

Quantum electrodynamics is a spectacularly successful theory, nowhere are its successes more numerous than in modern quantum optics. However, fully quantum field theoretical calculations are frequently quite involved, and it is therefore important to have and perfect paradigms which provide physical insight, thus helping us to decide which calculations to do. A case in point is the Welton treatment of the Lamb shift via heuristic “vacuum-fluctuations” arguments.1