Non-Markovian transient Casimir-Polder force and population dynamics on excited- and ground-state atoms: Weak- and strong-coupling regimes in generally nonreciprocal environments

George W. Hanson (1) , S. Ali Hassani Gangaraj (2) , Mario Silveirinha (3) , Mauro Antezza (4, 5) , Francesco Monticone (2)

1 University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
2 Cornell University [New York]
3 ULISBOA - Universidade de Lisboa = University of Lisbon
4 L2C - Laboratoire Charles Coulomb
5 Théorie du rayonnement matière et phénomènes quantiques

The transient Casimir-Polder force on a two-level atom introduced into a three-dimensional, inhomogeneous, generally nonreciprocal environment is evaluated using non-Markovian Weisskopf-Wigner theory in the strong- and weak-coupling regimes. Ground-state and excited atoms are shown to decouple into two separate initial-value problems, and both the short-time and long-time atomic population and force are evaluated. The results are compared with various Markov approximations of the Weisskopf-Wigner theory and with previous Markov results from the Heisenberg picture.

Domaines: Physique Quantique [quant-ph]; Gaz Quantiques [cond-mat.quant-gas]; Agrégats Moléculaires et Atomiques [physics.atm-clus]; Physique Atomique [physics.atom-ph]; Optique [physics.optics]

George W. Hanson, S. Ali Hassani Gangaraj, Mario Silveirinha, Mauro Antezza, Francesco Monticone. Non-Markovian transient Casimir-Polder force and population dynamics on excited- and ground-state atoms: Weak- and strong-coupling regimes in generally nonreciprocal environments. Physical Review A : Atomic, molecular, and optical physics [1990-2015], 2019, 99, pp.042508. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevA.99.042508⟩. ⟨hal-02103569⟩