Abstract
Remarkable quantum effects are predicted for an initially excited two-level wave packet incident on a broadband vacuum-field reservoir with sharp spatial boundaries: (a) reflection of the excited wave packet from the boundary (skin effect); (b) transient three-dimensional binding of the decayed wave packet to the boundary by photons carrying more energy than the incident wave packet. These effects are realizable for cold atoms in cavities where excitation decay is nearly exponential but strongly enhanced.
- Received 30 September 1997
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.80.3739
©1998 American Physical Society