Excitation of two atoms by a propagating single photon pulse
Abstract
We describe the interaction of two two-level atoms in free space with propagating modes of the quantized electromagnetic field, using the time-dependent Heisenberg-Langevin method. For single- photon pulses, we consider the effect of the pulse's spatial and temporal profiles on the atomic excitation. In particular, we find the ideal shape for a pulse to put exactly one excitation in any desired state of the bi-atomic system. Furthermore, we analyze the differences in the atomic dynamics between the cases of Fock state pulses and coherent state pulses.
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