| Issue |
Europhys. Lett.
Volume 65, Number 6, March 2004
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 785 - 790 | |
| Section | Electromagnetism, optics, acoustics, heat transfer, classical mechanics, and fluid dynamics | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/epl/i2003-10194-y | |
| Published online | 01 March 2004 | |
The non-dissipative damping of the Rabi oscillations as a “which-path” information
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica della Materia and Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche ed Astronomiche dell'Università di Palermo - via Archirafi 36, 90123 Palermo, Italy
Received:
8
October
2003
Accepted:
5
January
2004
Rabi oscillations may be viewed as an interference phenomenon due to a coherent superposition of different quantum paths, as in Young's two-slit experiment. The inclusion of the atomic external variables causes a non-dissipative damping of the Rabi oscillations. More generally, the atomic translational dynamics induces damping in the correlation functions which describe non-classical behaviors of the field and internal atomic variables, leading to the separability of these two subsystems. We discuss on the possibility of interpreting this intrinsic decoherence as a “which-way” information effect and we apply to this case a quantitative analysis of the complementarity relation as introduced by Englert (Phys. Rev. Lett. 77 (1996) 2154).
PACS: 42.50.-p – Quantum optics / 32.80.Lg – Mechanical effects of light on atoms, molecules, and ions / 03.65.Ud – Entanglement and quantum nonlocality (e.g. EPR paradox, Bell's inequalities, GHZ states, etc.)
© EDP Sciences, 2004
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