Optical emission in periodic dielectrics

Abstract

PACS. 32.70Cs { Oscillator strengths, lifetimes, transition moments. PACS. 32.80Pj { Optical cooling of atoms; trapping. PACS. 42.50Lc { Quantum °uctuations, quantum noise, and quantum jumps. Abstract. { We show rigorously that the coe–cient for spontaneous emission of an atom placed in a dielectric is proportional to the local radiative density of states |that is only a part of the local density of the eigenmodes of the Maxwell equations. Spontaneous emission is inhibited if the atom is located at a position where this local radiative density is small, even if the total density of states is not vanishing. This radiative density of states can be obtained without having to perform a full quantum calculation of the radiation-matter system. We demonstrate this principle by solving numerically a scalar model for a dielectric that consists of a lattice of resonating dipoles. Introduction. { The rate of spontaneous emission of an atom inside a dielectric is a crucial property for applications and requires fundamental understanding of its quantum aspects. Experimental and theoretical efiorts focused up to now on the modiflcation of the emission in (micro) cavities fllled with a homogeneous dielectric [1], [2]. Recently three-dimensional