3 Quantum Optical Phenomena in Nuclear Resonant Scattering
127
Fig. 3.8 The collective Lamb shift (CLS) for an extended layer of resonant atoms within the
cavity. Left column: cavity reflectivity in the third-order guided mode for increasing thickness D
of the resonant layer. The insets show the cavity cross section with the resonant layer (red) and the
standing wave intensity pattern (solid line). Right column: CLS as function of k z D for the 7th and
11th order mode in a Pt/C/Pt cavity with a 100 nm thick guiding layer. Similar curves have been
observed recently in an experiment involving thin layers of atomic vapor [45]. Reprinted from [61],
Copyright 2012, with permission from Wiley
of a corresponding “artificial atom”, that is, a quantum optical few-level structure
which for low probing fields gives rise to the same response. This method has the
advantage that it treats the x-ray field as quantized, enables one to explore non-linear
and quantum effects, allows for a full interpretation, and for a quantitative modeling
of experiments. On the other hand, designing the cavity geometry and the nuclear
level structure in a suitable way enables one to design artificial atoms with properties
which reach beyond what is available in natural atoms [29, 68]. We note that the
quantum optical model presented here recently was promoted to an ab-initio theory,
in which the model parameters and the realized artificial quantum system can directly
be calculated from a given cavity structure [40, 76]. As compared to previous models, this ab-initio theory further predicts qualitatively new phenomena, e.g., related
to the effect of off-resonant cavity modes on the nuclear dynamics.
127
Fig. 3.8 The collective Lamb shift (CLS) for an extended layer of resonant atoms within the
cavity. Left column: cavity reflectivity in the third-order guided mode for increasing thickness D
of the resonant layer. The insets show the cavity cross section with the resonant layer (red) and the
standing wave intensity pattern (solid line). Right column: CLS as function of k z D for the 7th and
11th order mode in a Pt/C/Pt cavity with a 100 nm thick guiding layer. Similar curves have been
observed recently in an experiment involving thin layers of atomic vapor [45]. Reprinted from [61],
Copyright 2012, with permission from Wiley
of a corresponding “artificial atom”, that is, a quantum optical few-level structure
which for low probing fields gives rise to the same response. This method has the
advantage that it treats the x-ray field as quantized, enables one to explore non-linear
and quantum effects, allows for a full interpretation, and for a quantitative modeling
of experiments. On the other hand, designing the cavity geometry and the nuclear
level structure in a suitable way enables one to design artificial atoms with properties
which reach beyond what is available in natural atoms [29, 68]. We note that the
quantum optical model presented here recently was promoted to an ab-initio theory,
in which the model parameters and the realized artificial quantum system can directly
be calculated from a given cavity structure [40, 76]. As compared to previous models, this ab-initio theory further predicts qualitatively new phenomena, e.g., related
to the effect of off-resonant cavity modes on the nuclear dynamics.