Dynamics of a two-level atom in the presence of a medium-assisted thermal field

Abstract

In this paper the time evolution of a two-level atom in the presence of medium-assisted thermal field is explored through which, the formula of decay rate of an excited atom is generalized in two aspects. The obtained formula applies for the thermal electromagnetic field as well as the presence of arbitrary arrangement of magneto-electric media. In order to be general with respect to the material environment, the Green's function approach is used. It is seen that the non-zero temperature contributes to the decay rate via an additive term that is equal to the zero-temperature result multiplied by two times of photon number at atomic transition frequency.