Effect of dipole-dipole interaction in two atom systems : A steady state analysis

Abstract

The behaviour of a system of two two-level atoms, both identical as well as non-identical, under the influence of a continuously varying dipole-dipole coupling parameter for a wide range of other parameters such as the atomic level separations and the coupling strength of the external radiation field is explored. A detailed analysis of the behaviour of various level populations and some of the atomic coherences is presented. The influence of the competing effects between the Rabi field strength and the dipole dipole interaction on the two photon absorption probability is explored in detail both for identical as well as non-identical atoms. There are significant variations in the behaviour of identical and non-identical atoms as a function of the dipole coupling strength, even for small amounts of non-identity of the atoms, which in this study is incorporated through the atomic level separations.