Characteristics of the spontaneous emission field and spectrum of a two-level atom in a dynamic photonic crystal

Abstract

The spontaneous emission field and spectrum of a two-level atom, located in an isotropic photonic crystal with dynamic band edges, are investigated by means of numeric calculation. The investigation is expected to help comprehend the characteristics of the atomic spontaneous emission in the dynamic photonic crystal, and provide a possible way to control dynamically the spontaneous emission in photonic crystal. The expression of the spontaneous radiation field is obtained without using the far-zone approximation and the Weisskopf-Wigner approximation, and expected to be applicable in other relevant researches. In the investigation, the spontaneous radiation field and spectrum are calculated when the band edge frequency is unmodulated, or modulated by a step function or triangle function. In the unmodulated situation, the radiation field intensity tends to a constant which is equal to the intensity of the localized field component. The radiation field pulse presents a wave packet behavior as propagation distance increases. The components of the radiation field correspond one-to-one to the peaks in the spontaneous radiation spectrum. When the band edge frequency is modulated by step function, the radiation field intensity tends to a steady-state value after the modulation has happened. And the steady-state intensity is affected by the time when the modulation happens. The components of the non-localized field and the frequency of the localized field after modulation depend on the atomic transition frequency and the band edge frequency, and are identical to those in the unmodulated situation with the same parameters. When the band edge frequency is modulated by a triangle function, the field intensity presents a decaying quasi-periodic oscillation after a long enough time. The modulation frequency determines the frequency of the oscillation, and influences the decay rate. The radiation energy becomes sharp peaks around a set of the discrete frequencies which are evenly spaced with the modulation frequency. The central frequency of these frequencies depends on the atomic transition frequency and the value range of the band edge frequency. The modulation initial phase affects the intensity of the radiation field emitted in an initial period of time.