Spontaneous Emission by Three-level Atoms Pumped by Electron Bombardment

Abstract

In this paper we have studied the statistical and squeezing properties of the cavity light generated by a three-level laser. In this quantum optical system, N three-level atoms available in an open cavity, coupled to a two-mode vacuum reservoir, are pumped to the top level by means of electron bombardment at constant rate. We have considered the case in which the three-level atoms and the cavity modes interact with the two-mode vacuum reservoir. We have carried out our analysis by putting the noise operators associated with the vacuum reservoir in normal order. Applying the solutions of the equations of evolution for the expectation values of the atomic operators and the quantum Langevin equations for the cavity mode operators, we have calculated the mean and variance of the photon number as well as the quadrature squeezing for the cavity light. In addition, we have shown that the presence of the spontaneous emission process leads to a decrease in the mean and variance of the photon number. We have observed that the two-mode cavity light is in a squeezed state and the squeezing occurs in the minus quadrature. The maximum quadrature squeezing of the light generated by the laser, operating far below threshold, is found to be 50% below the vacuum-state level. We have also established that the mean photon number in the presence of spontaneous emission is less than the absence of spontaneous emission.