Master equation approach for interacting slow- and stationary-light polaritons
Abstract
A master equation approach for the description of dark-state polaritons in coherently driven atomic media is presented. This technique provides a description of light-matter interactions under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) that is well suited for the treatment of polariton losses. The master equation approach allows us to describe general polariton-polariton interactions that may be conservative, dissipative or a mixture of both. In particular, it enables us to study dissipation-induced correlations as a means for the creation of strongly correlated polariton systems. Our technique reveals a loss mechanism for stationary-light polaritons that has not been discussed so far. We find that polariton losses in level configurations with non-degenerate ground states can be a multiple of those in level schemes with degenerate ground states.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1005.4865,
title = {Master equation approach for interacting slow- and stationary-light polaritons},
author = {Martin Kiffner and Michael J. Hartmann},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1005.4865},
year = {2010}
}