Abstract
Energy transfer from a quantized field to a quantized dipole is investigated. We find that a single photon can transfer energy to a two-level dipole by inducing a dynamic Stark shift, going beyond the well-known absorption and emission processes. A quantum thermodynamical perspective allows us to unravel these two energy transfer mechanisms and to identify the former as a generalized work and the latter as a generalized heat. We show two necessary conditions for the generalized work transfer by a single photon to occur, namely, off-resonance and finite linewidth of the pulse. We also show that the generalized work performed by a single-photon pulse equals the reactive (dispersive) contribution of the work performed by a semiclassical pulse in the low-excitation regime.
© 2018 Optical Society of America
Full Article | PDF ArticleMore Like This
Yuyi Yan, Yanbei Cheng, Shengguo Guan, Danying Yu, and Zhenglu Duan
Opt. Lett. 43(20) 5086-5089 (2018)
Imran M. Mirza
Opt. Lett. 41(11) 2422-2425 (2016)
D. Valente, F. Brito, and T. Werlang
Opt. Lett. 42(9) 1692-1695 (2017)