Stability of excited atoms in small cavities

Abstract

We consider a system consisting of an atom in the approximation of a harmonic oscillator of frequency $\bar{\omega}$, coupled to the scalar potential inside a spherical reflecting cavity of radius R. We use {\it dressed} states introduced in a previous publication [Andion, Malbouisson and Matos Neto, J. Phys. A34, 3735 (2001)], which allow a non-perturbative unified description of the atom radiation process, in both cases, of a finite or an arbitrarily large cavity. We perform a study of the energy distribution in a small cavity, with the initial condition that the atom is in the first excited state and we conclude for the quasi-stability of the excited atom. For instance, for a frequency $\bar{\omega}$ of the order $\bar{\omega}\sim 4.00\times 10^{14}/s$ (in the visible red), starting from the initial condition that the atom is in the first excited level, we find that for a cavity with diameter $2R\sim 1.0\times 10^{-6}m$, the probability that the atom be at any time still in the first excited level, will be of the order of 97%. For a typical microwave frequency $\bar{\omega}\sim 2,00\times 10^{10}/s$ we find stability in the first excited state also of the order of 97% for a cavity radius $R\sim 1.4\times 10^{-2}m$.