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Department of Physics

Dynamics in the photon number-space

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in
  • Reiter
Einen Grafik mit Daten über Photonverteilungen als Funktion der Zeit © Luca Nimmesgern ​/​ Universität Bayreuth
Dynamics of the photon number distribution as function of time. A snapshot shows that two wave packets form which run in the photon number space.
A new article in Phys. Rev. B by the Reiter group

A two-level system coupled to a photonic cavity mode can act as photon generator. If the two-level system is driven continuously by a laser pulse, a naïve assumption would be that more and more photons are generated in the cavity. Instead, a different behaviour emerges: A photon wave packet emerges, which runs up and down the Jaynes-Cummings ladder. In other words: There is a maximal photon number that is reached and then photons start to vanish from the cavity again. In the new publication we study the behaviour of this system, adding new aspects like detuned excitation and dephasing. Wigner functions are used to explain the behaviour. We show that different dynamics occur visible in two wave packets running in the photon number space.

The work is a collaboration with the group of Martin Axt from Bayreuth.

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