Switching Control of Spontaneous Emission by Polarized Atoms in Two-Dimensional Photonic Crystals

Yun-Song Zhou, Xue-Hua Wang, Ben-Yuan Gu, and Fu-He Wang

Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 103601 – Published 17 March 2006

Abstract

We calculate the lifetime distribution function of an assembly of polarized atoms in two-dimensional (2D) photonic crystals (PCs) at different polarization orientations of atomic dipole moments. We reveal a switching effect of atomic spontaneous emission (SE) and find a significant change of atomic lifetime, up to a factor of 33, by tuning the polarized orientation of the atoms. These observations suggest that the tuning of the polarized orientation of atoms provides a new way for the effective control of atomic SE processes in 2D PCs.

Received 10 July 2005

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.103601

Authors & Affiliations

Yun-Song Zhou¹, Xue-Hua Wang^2,3,*, Ben-Yuan Gu^3,†, and Fu-He Wang¹

¹Department of Physics, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100037, China
²Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China
³Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China

^*Corresponding author. Present address: State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, Institute of Optoelectronic and Functional Composite Materials, School of Physics and Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen (Zhongshan) University, Guangzhou 510275, China. Email address: wangxh@aphy.iphy.ac.cn.
^†Email address: guby@aphy.iphy.ac.cn.

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Vol. 96, Iss. 10 — 17 March 2006

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