Cavity QED with cold atoms trapped in a double-well potential

Abstract

We investigate the interplay dynamics of a cavity QED system, where the two-level atoms are trapped in a double-well potential, and the cavity mode, with a frequency largely detuned from the atomic level splitting, is driven by a probe laser. The interaction between the center-of-mass motion of the atoms and the cavity mode is induced by the position-dependent atom-field coupling. The dynamics of the system is characterized by two distinct time scales, the inverse of the atomic interwell tunneling rate and the inverse of the cavity loss rate. The system shows drastically different (quasi)steady behaviors in the short- and long-time intervals, and the detection of the statistics of atom number distribution from the transmission spectra is available only in the short-time interval.