We study the spontaneous-emission of a single atom located between two parallel infinite plates where one of the plates is partially reflective and the plate separation is of the order of the wavelength of the atomic transition. We pay particular attention to the nature of the field modes in such a finite finesse cavity, including the full three-dimensional nature of the field. We then compute the decay rate of an excited atom placed inside such a cavity. The angular distributions of the spontaneous-emission and of the cavity field vacuum fluctuation variances are investigated. Finally, we examine the output field from an atom inside a finite finesse microcavity. We show that the radiation transmitted outside such microcavity forms a nondiffracting Bessel beam. © 1996 The American Physical Society.

• Received 19 September 1995

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.53.3587