Semiclassical theory of the radiative-collisional cascade in a Rydberg atom

We have developed a two-dimensional semiclassical model of the radiative-collisional cascade for hydrogen-like systems. We describe the collisions with electrons and ions by classical diffusion in the space of principal and orbital quantum numbers and use an iterative procedure that consistently takes into account the quantum nature of the radiative cascade for radiative transitions. The model establishes the correspondence between the quantum and classical approaches and indicates that the latter cannot be directly used to calculate the population kinetics of highly excited atomic states. Our calculations of the two-dimensional populations of highly excited atomic hydrogen states for selective, three-body, and photorecombination sources of population allow the data of one-dimensional kinetic models to be refined. The calculated intensities of recombination lines demonstrate the degree of nonequilibrium of the Rydberg state populations under typical astrophysical plasma conditions.     

Instantaneous Formulation for Transitions Between Two Instantaneous Bound States and Its Gauge Invariance

We have precisely derived a ＂rigorous instantaneous formulation＂ for transitions between two bound states when the bound states are well-described by instantaneous Bethe-Salpeter （BS） equation （i.e. the kernel of the equation is instantaneous ＂occasionally＂）. The obtained rigorous instantaneous formulation, in fact, is expressed as an operator sandwiched by two ＂reduced BS wave functions＂ properly, while the reduced BS wave functions appearing in the formulation are the rigorous solutions of the instantaneous BS equation, and they may relate to Schroedinger wave functions straightforwardly. We also show that the rigorous instantaneous formulation is gauge-invariant with respect to the Uem（1） transformation precisely, if the concerned transitions are radiative. Some applications of the formulation are outlined.     

Enhanced electron–ion recombination in ion storage rings

We review recent advances in the understanding of the enhanced electron–ion recombination observed in storage ring experiments. The measured recombination rates show a strong enhancement relative to what the standard radiative recombination rates predict. A transient motional electric field is induced in the merging region of an electron and an ion beam in the electron cooler. This induced field opens an additional pathway for free-bound transitions of electrons. The formed Rydberg states can be radiatively stabilized and contribute to the measured rate. We show that this “field induced recombination” (FIR) explains the gap previously observed between measurements and the standard radiative recombination rate.     

Effective quantum spin systems with trapped ions

We show that the physical system consisting of trapped ions interacting with lasers may undergo a rich variety of quantum phase transitions. By changing the laser intensities and polarizations the dynamics of the internal states of the ions can be controlled, in such a way that an Ising or Heisenberg-like interaction is induced between effective spins. Our scheme allows us to build an analogue quantum simulator of spin systems with trapped ions, and observe and analyze quantum phase transitions with unprecedented opportunities for the measurement and manipulation of spins.     

Classical breathers and quantum coherent states in discrete NLS systems

We present a comparison of quantum and “semiclassical” trajectories of coherent states that correspond to classical breather solutions of finite discrete nonlinear Schrödinger (DNLS) lattices. The main goal is to explain earlier numerical observations of recurrent return to the vicinity of initial coherent states corresponding to stable breathers that are also spatially localized. This effect can be considered as a quantum manifestation of classical spatial localization. We show that these phenomena are encoded in a simple expression for the distance between the quantum and semiclassical states that involves the basic frequencies of the classical and quantum systems, as well as the breather amplitude and quantum spectral decomposition of the system. A corollary is that recurrence phenomena are robust under perturbation of the initial conditions for stable breathers.     

Dark and bright polaritons in solids in the presence of excitonic resonances

We study the possibility to store and retrieve quantum information with use of “dark” and ”bright” polaritons in solids with excitonic resonances. In a crystal with Λ-type impurity atoms the upper level lying in the excitonic band of the crystal forms a Fano-type resonant state via configuration interaction with the continuum of crystal’s excitonic band. Polariton states are introduced in case of transitions through excitonic resonance and the properties of these states are studied. We also investigate propagation of dark polariton and show that its shape and quantum state are preserved during propagation. Limiting cases of adiabatic and non-adiabatic turning-on the fields are analyzed in detail.     

Radiative properties of diamagnetic levels in atoms: Dependence of transition probability on magnetic field strength

We study the effect of diamagnetic interaction on the probability of radiative transitions of an atom from states split by a field. We write the analytic expressions for the diamagnetic corrections to the matrix elements of transitions belonging to the Lyman and Balmer series and of transitions between arbitrary nondegenerate states in hydrogen. We also discuss the perturbation theory for transitions from degenerate diamagnetic states. The theory is based on expanding in powers of the field strength the eigenfunctions and eigenvalues of the matrix of diamagnetic interaction in the subspace of states with given principal and magnetic quantum numbers. The field changes the coefficients in both the superposition and the degenerate basis. To derive the analytic expressions for the higher-order matrix elements, we use the Sturm expansion of the reduced Coulomb Green’s function. We also elaborate on the features of the frequency dependence of the corrections to the radiative matrix elements, which correlate with the structure of the diamagnetic spectrum of excited levels. Finally, we establish that the magnetic field acts selectively on the diamagnetic components of emission lines: as the field strength increases, an increase in the intensity of certain lines is accompanied by a decrease in the intensity of the other lines. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 116, 1161–1183 (October 1999)     

Absorption and emission of terahertz radiation in doped GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells

Spontaneous emission of terahertz radiation from structures with GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells in a longitudinal magnetic field has been studied. It is shown that some bands in the emission spectrum can be related to radiative electron transitions between resonant and localized impurity states, as well as to the transitions with participation of subband states. The temperature dependence of the equilibrium intraband absorption of terahertz radiation and its modulation in a longitudinal electric field in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells has been investigated.     

Phase transitions in random Potts systems and the community detection problem: spin-glass type and dynamic perspectives

Phase transitions in spin-glass type systems and, more recently, in related computational problems have gained broad interest in disparate arenas. In the current work, we focus on the “community detection” problem when cast in terms of a general Potts spin-glass type problem. As such, our results apply to rather broad Potts spin-glass type systems. Community detection describes the general problem of partitioning a complex system involving many elements into optimally decoupled “communities” of such elements. We report on phase transitions between solvable and unsolvable regimes. A solvable region may further split into “easy” and “hard” phases. Spin-glass type phase transitions appear at both low and high temperatures (or noise). Low-temperature transitions correspond to an “order by disorder” type effect wherein fluctuations render the system ordered or solvable. Separate transitions appear at higher temperatures into a disordered (or an unsolvable) phase. Different sorts of randomness lead to disparate behaviors. We illustrate the spin glass character of both transitions and report on memory effects. We further relate Potts type spin systems to mechanical analogs and suggest how chaotic-type behavior in general thermodynamic systems can indeed naturally arise in hard computational problems and spin glasses. The correspondence between the two types of transitions (spin glass and dynamic) is likely to extend across a larger spectrum of spin-glass type systems and hard computational problems. We briefly discuss potential implications of these transitions in complex many-body physical systems.     

Description of physical systems

A general “logical” scheme, containing both classical and quantum mechanics, is developed on the basis of plausible axioms. We introduce the division of states and yes-no measurements into sharp and diffuse ones, and prove that sharp states possess their carriers. Owing to this result, the existence of lattice joins and meets is proved for a wide class of elements of the logic. This “semi-lattice” structure gives the familiar lattice picture for special cases of classical and quantum mechanics. The notion of quantum superposition is introduced in this general scheme. It is proved that if in a theory appear nontrivial quantum superpositions, then this theory is “undeterministic” and vise versa. Further analysis of the pure state space leads to the construction of the canonical embedding of the general logic into an orthomodular complete ortho-lattice. After defining the probability of transition between pure states, the pure state space appears to be a generalization of Mielnik's “probability space” of quantum mechanics.     

Intraexciton and Intracenter Terahertz Radiation from Doped Silicon under Interband Photoexcitation

Terahertz photoluminescence of boron- and phosphorus-doped silicon at low temperatures under interband photoexcitation is investigated. The lines of radiative transitions between free-exciton levels and between the levels of shallow impurity centers are observed. The intensities of these lines exhibit different dependences on temperature and excitation intensity. At temperatures near the temperature of liquid helium (T ~ 5 K), the terahertz radiation spectrum features a broad band (about 18–20 meV wide) with a peak at an energy of about 20–22 meV. This band is apparently associated with radiative transitions of nonequilibrium charge carriers from the states of the continuum to the state of an electron–hole liquid.     

Influence of the medium on the electromagnetic radiation spectrum of highly excited atoms and molecules

The influence of neutral species in the E- and D-layers of the Earth’s upper atmosphere on the spectrum of the spontaneous emission (absorption) of Rydberg atoms and molecules for transitions that occur without changing the principal quantum number (Δn = 0) is examined. Along with the process of l-mixing, the splitting of orbitally degenerate states due to interaction with perturbing neutral species of the medium is taken into account. The possible types of radiative transitions between them are analyzed. It is demonstrated that, for principal quantum numbers of n = 10–30, decimeter-band radiation corresponds to transitions between the levels of split states, whereas meter-band radiation, to transitions between their individual components. It is established that, for these values of n, the ratios of the intensities of the decimeter and meter bands for Δn = 0 transitions to the intensity of IR radiation (Δn = 1) are 10⁻⁴ and 10⁻⁶, respectively. The issue of satellite signal phase shift because of multiple Raman scattering in the D-layer of the atmosphere is discussed.     

Reflection and interference structure in diatomic Franck-Condon distributions

The Franck-Condon distributions for diatomic radiative transitions from a single vibrational level of a given electronic state to all possible levels (bound and free) of a second electronic state exhibit either “reflection” or “interference” structure. In reflection structure there is a one-to-one mapping of peaks in the initial state probability distribution into peaks in the spectrum. No such simple relationship is known for interference structure, originally termed “internal diffraction” by Condon [Phys. Rev.32, 858–872 (1928)]. A semiclassical treatment of the quantum mechanical overlap integrals shows that the condition for reflection structure is a monotonic difference potential in the range of internuclear distance sampled by the initial wavefunction, whereas interference structure occurs when a “polytonic” difference potential is sampled. The qualitative validity of the semiclassical treatment is illustrated through quantum calculations which show that the Franck-Condon integrals accumulate near the points of stationary phase.     

INVESTIGATION OF NON-LINFAR SCHRODINGER EQUATION SOLITON SOLUTION

Packet-like soliton solution of the non-linear Schrödinger's equation has been in-vestigated.We found that a state of a free particle can possibly be described by thissoliton solution,with the quantum property and the classical property of a particleas its limiting cases.A set of biorthogonal eigen-functions of non-hermitian opera-tor,which can be used in the pertubation expansion,has been found.We discoveredthat the discrete eigenvalue mode corresponds to the“classical”motion of a particle,and the continuous eigenvalue modes correspond to the“quantum”motion.Wesuggested that the parameter u describing the state of a system can be used to identifywhether the system is“quantum”or“classical”.     

Recombination processes in structures with GaN/ALN quantum dots

Mechanisms of the generation and the radiative and nonradiative recombination of carriers in structures with GaN quantum dots in the AlN matrix are studied experimentally and theoretically. Absorption, stationary and nonstationary photoluminescence of quantum dots at different temperatures are investigated. It is found that the photoluminescence intensity considerably decreases with the temperature while the photoluminescence kinetics weakly depends on the temperature. The photoluminescence kinetics is shown to be determined by radiative recombination inside quantum dots. A mechanism of nonradiative recombination is proposed, according to which the main reason for the thermal quenching of photoluminescence is nonradiative recombination of charge carriers, generated by optical transitions between quantum dots and wetting layer states.     

Frequency and density dependent radiative recombination processes in III–V semiconductor quantum wells and superlattices

In this paper we review the radiative recombination processes occurring in semiconductor quantum wells and superlattices under different excitation conditions. We consider processes whose radiative efficiency depends on the photogenerated density of elementary excitations and on the frequency of the exciting field, including luminescence induced by multiphoton absorption, exciton and biexciton radiative decay, luminescence arising from inelastic excitonic scattering, and electron-hole plasma recombination.

Semiconductor quantum wells are ideal systems for the investigation of radiative recombination processes at different carrier densities owing to the peculiar wavefunction confinement which enhances the optical non-linearities and the bistable behaviour of the crystal. Radiative recombination processes induced by multi-photon absorption processes can be studied by exciting the crystal in the transparency region under an intense photon flux. The application of this non-linear spectroscopy gives direct access to the excited excitonic states in the quantum wells owing to the symmetry properties and the selection rules for artificially layered semiconductor heterostructures.

Different radiative recombination processes can be selectively tuned at exciting photon energies resonant with real states or in the continuum of the conduction band depending on the actual density of photogenerated carriers. We define three density regimes in which different quasi-particles are responsible for the dominant radiative recombination mechanisms of the crystal: (i) The dilute boson gas regime, in which exciton density is lower than 10¹⁰ cm^-2. Under this condition the decay of free and bound excitons is the main radiative recombination channel in the crystal. (ii) The intermediate density range (n < 10¹¹ cm^-2) at which excitonic molecules (biexcitons) and inelastic excitonic scattering processes contribute with additional decay mechanisms to the characteristic luminescence spectra. (iii) The high density range (n ?10¹² cm^-2) where screening of the Coulomb interaction leads to exciton ionization. The optical transitions hence originate from the radiative decay of free-carriers in a dense electron-hole plasma.

The fundamental theoretical and experimental aspects of the radiative recombination processes are discussed with special attention to the GaAs/Al _x Ga_1-x As and Ga _x In_1-x As/Al _y In_1-y As materials systems. The experimental investigations of these effects are performed in the limit of intense exciting fields by tuning the density of photogenerated quasi-particles and the frequency of the exciting photons. Under these conditions the optical response of the quantum well strongly deviates from the well-known linear excitonic behaviour. The optical properties of the crystal are then no longer controlled by the transverse dielectric constant or by the first-order dielectric susceptibility. They are strongly affected by many-body interactions between the different species of photogenerated quasi-particles, resulting in dramatic changes of the emission properties of the semiconductor.

The systematic investigation of these radiative recombination processes allows us to selectively monitor the many-body induced changes in the linear and non-linear optical transitions involving quantized states of the quantum wells. The importance of these effects, belonging to the physics of highly excited semiconductors, lies in the possibility of achieving population inversion of states associated with different radiative recombination channels and strong optical non-linearities causing laser action and bistable behaviour of two-dimensional heterostructures, respectively.