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In atomic systems, for a two-level system, the Hamiltonian can be written in the form:

$$H=\left( \begin{array}{cc} E_1 & C_{12} \\ C_{21} & E_2 \\ \end{array} \right)$$

where $E_1$ and $E_2$ are the energy offsets of the atomic levels from the zero point, and $C_{**}$ are the coherences between the levels. Now if we would like to couple the two levels with an electromagnetic field, usually the coupling term looks like this:

$$C_{12}=\Omega \cos \omega t$$

where $\Omega$ is the Rabi frequency of the system and $\omega$ is the frequency of the electric field, or the Larmor frequency.

The question: Now this kind of light-coupling couples light with zero linewidth. No broadband light. So my question is, how can we include light that has a linewidth?

More details:

Now normally I include states that have a width not using the Hamiltonian, but using the Liouville equation. It looks like this:

$$i\hbar\frac{d\rho}{dt}=H \rho-\rho H-\frac{1}{2}i \hbar(\Gamma\rho+\rho\Gamma)$$

where $\rho$ is the density matrix of the system. $\Gamma$ is a diagonal matrix that contains the linewidth of each state. Is there a similar solution to include the width of the electromagnetic field? That would be OK too.

Why do I need this? I have a complicated, large system with many levels and I would like them all to be excited together with a broadband light, kind of like the experiment I'm working on.

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  • $\begingroup$ I think you're asking how to write the field of a broadband source. This requires understanding stochastic processes. It's not trivial. I hope someone will write a good answer. $\endgroup$
    – DanielSank
    Commented Jan 7, 2016 at 16:52
  • $\begingroup$ @DanielSank Yes that's my question. But why does that require stochastic processes? $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 7, 2016 at 16:59
  • $\begingroup$ You don't need the full machinery of stochastic processes, but you're probably going to need either an equation in terms of a spectral density, or something like the Langevin equation. Broadband light is usually not coherent. This is more than I can really explain in a comment. $\endgroup$
    – DanielSank
    Commented Jan 7, 2016 at 17:02
  • $\begingroup$ Isn't that already included in the density matrix approach? I agree with DanielSank that you need to work somewhat to go into a frequency representation, then you can apply a broad line and a random phase and then you have to calculate the expectation values. $\endgroup$
    – CuriousOne
    Commented Jan 8, 2016 at 2:08
  • $\begingroup$ @CuriousOne I'm sorry I don't understand. What is included? I agree with DanielSank too, but I don't know how to do it. $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 8, 2016 at 9:17

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That attempt to account for dissipation in the von Neumann equation hasn't been in use for about 40 years now: it doesn't work very well. First and foremost, it "leaks" probability, since $Tr\dot\rho \neq 0$. Second, but probably most importantly, it cannot keep the density matrix positive definite.

If you want a dissipative evolution in terms of the two-level density matrix only, then what you are looking for is a (linear) Lindblad dynamics of the form $$ \dot\rho = -i[H,\rho] + \frac{1}{2}\sum_j{\left(2\Gamma_j\rho\Gamma_j^\dagger - \Gamma_j^\dagger\Gamma_j\rho - \rho\Gamma_j^\dagger\Gamma_j\right)} $$ In this case, the density matrix $\rho$, the Hamiltonian $H$, and the dissipative operators $\Gamma_j$ all act on the two-level Hilbert space only. The Hamiltonian $H$ and the $\Gamma_j$-s can also be time-dependent. This is the most general form of a positive linear dynamics, i.e. one that keeps $\rho$ positive definite at all times. You can easily check that it conserves total probability too, in the sense that $Tr\dot\rho = 0$.

A frequent choice for the dissipative operators is $\Gamma_j = \sigma_\pm$, but in the simplest possible case, the sum over $j$ keeps a single term and the evolution eq. is simply $$ \dot\rho = -i[H,\rho] + \frac{1}{2}\left(2\Gamma\rho\Gamma^\dagger - \Gamma^\dagger\Gamma\rho - \rho\Gamma^\dagger\Gamma\right) $$ This can actually be solved exactly. If you rewrite your $\Gamma$ as $\Gamma \rightarrow \Gamma^\dagger\Gamma$, then the form above differs from yours only by a $\Gamma\rho\Gamma^\dagger$ term.

If you prefer to account explicitly for the electromagnetic field, it can be accommodated directly in the Lindblad dynamics, provided the Hilbert space is extended to the system-field Hilbert space, and the density matrix becomes the system-field density matrix. In this case the total hamiltonian must include the two-level hamiltonian $H_0$, the field hamiltonian $H_1$, and the system-field interactions, $H_{int}$, so $$ H = H_0 + H_1 + H_{int} $$ The dissipative terms usually account for possible field interactions with another external bath/reservoir and depend only on the field degrees of freedom.

The system-field hamiltonian is known in general as the Jaynes–Cummings model and can be found in any course on Quantum Optics. I am jotting it down here just to make the answer self-contained. First write the two-level hamiltonian in terms of SU(2) operators, $$ H_0 = \epsilon \hat\sigma_z + V\hat\sigma_+ + V^*\hat\sigma_- $$ where $\hat\sigma_z = |e\rangle\langle e| - |g\rangle\langle g|$, $\hat\sigma_+ = |e\rangle\langle g|$, and $\hat\sigma_- = |g\rangle\langle e|$, with $|e\rangle$ the excited state and $|g\rangle$ the ground state. If you prefer, it is also possible to write instead $$ H_0 = \vec{u} \cdot\vec{\hat\sigma} $$ where $\vec{\hat\sigma} = (\hat\sigma_x, \hat\sigma_y, \hat\sigma_z)$ and $\vec{u}$ is a real 3-D vector (possibly a magnetic field?).

The field hamiltonian is just the standard hamiltonian for arbitrary field modes, $$ H_1 = \sum_{\vec{k},\lambda}{\omega(\vec{k})a^\dagger_{\vec{k},\lambda}a_{\vec{k},\lambda}} $$ and the system field interaction is initially taken as (Schroedinger representation) $$ H_{int} = \sum_{\vec{k},\lambda}{(g_{\vec{k},\lambda}\sigma_+ + g^*_{\vec{k},\lambda}\sigma_-)(a^\dagger_{\vec{k},\lambda} + a_{\vec{k},\lambda})} $$ but after a rotating wave approximation (RWA) in the interaction picture and reverting back to Schroedinger it becomes $$ H_{int} = \sum_{\vec{k},\lambda}{(g_{\vec{k},\lambda}\sigma_+a_{\vec{k},\lambda} + g^*_{\vec{k},\lambda}\sigma_-a^\dagger_{\vec{k},\lambda})} $$

As for the dissipative operators $\Gamma_j$ they are usually defined as $$ \Gamma_j \;\;\rightarrow \;\; \Gamma_{\vec{k},\lambda} = \kappa_{\vec{k},\lambda}a_{\vec{k},\lambda} $$ where $\kappa_{\vec{k},\lambda}$ are complex scalars (coupling constants).

Finally, the broadband condition is not so much about the form of the evolution equation as about the initial state of the field. If the field is initially confined to a single mode, the system is basically interacting with a coherent laser mode. If instead the field starts in some pure multi-mode superposition, or even better, some multi-mode mixed state, then you basically end up with a broadband field.

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  • $\begingroup$ "If instead the field starts in some pure multi-mode superposition, or even better, some multi-mode mixed state, then you basically end up with a broadband field." <-- That's a dangerous statement. If the field is a pure multimode superposition the statistics of the evolution is very different than if the field is stochastic. $\endgroup$
    – DanielSank
    Commented Jan 8, 2016 at 16:50
  • $\begingroup$ @udrv I think you mean $\Gamma_j \sim \sigma_\pm$. Obviously the Lindblad operators should act in the Hilbert space of the 2-level system, not the electromagnetic field. It is also not clear what $\kappa$ is supposed to mean. $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 8, 2016 at 17:22
  • $\begingroup$ I would like to point out that I fix the density matrix probability conservation by adding a repopulation term. I'll study this solution some time later (I'm sorry I got a problem that shifted my concentration off this problem). +1 because it gave me many ideas and terms to learn. $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 8, 2016 at 18:47
  • $\begingroup$ @DanielSank Under hamiltonian dynamics, yes, the statistics can be significantly different, even coherent, although still broadband if we take the latter to mean broad(er) spectrum. Under dissipation and decoherence the difference is likely to be wiped out more or less rapidly, unless the field is externally driven. In any case, if there are questions as to the suitability of starting out with the field in a pure multi-mode state, just default to a suitable mixture. $\endgroup$
    – udrv
    Commented Jan 8, 2016 at 19:53
  • $\begingroup$ @MarkMitchison No, in the last case the $\Gamma$-s actually act on the field. The density matrix $\rho$ lives in the joint system-field Hilbert space, it is not yet reduced to the system Hilbert space only. Dissipation and decoherence in the 2-level system is accounted for through interaction with the field, while the Lindblad terms drive dissipation and decoherence on the field itself on account of any other external interactions. The 2-level system is assumed shielded from the latter. And thanks for pointing out the $\kappa$ issue, it's fixed. $\endgroup$
    – udrv
    Commented Jan 8, 2016 at 20:09

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