PhysRevLett.92.233602_(1).pdf (99.93 kB)
Inadequacy of perfect-reflector models in cavity QED for systems with low-frequency excitations
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 10:06 authored by Claudia Eberlein, Dieter RobaschikIt is shown that the model of perfectly reflecting boundaries widely employed in cavity QED is unsuitable for systems that have long-wavelength excitations. A prime example is a free charged particle near a reflecting wall. Modeling the wall as perfectly reflecting from the outset ignores evanescent waves that couple to the particle through virtual excitations at low energies, which can lead to errors in order of magnitude and even sign. The example of a free electron near an imperfectly reflecting wall characterized by a constant frequency-independent refractive index n is investigated in detail by determining its energy shift relative to an electron in vacuum through both nonrelativistic and relativistic calculations.
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Physical Review LettersISSN
0031-9007External DOI
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23Volume
92Page range
233602Department affiliated with
- Physics and Astronomy Publications
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The paper shows that for some systems the cavity-QED model of a perfectly reflecting boundary does in fact not represent any experimentally realizable situation. The work was initiated by me and carried out in collaboration with a visiting guest professor from Germany.Full text available
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2012-02-06First Open Access (FOA) Date
2016-03-22First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2017-03-14Usage metrics
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