Abstract
A novel treatment of dissipation of energy from a ‘‘small’’ quantum system to a reservoir is presented. We replace the usual master equation for the small-system density matrix by a wave-function evolution including a stochastic element. This wave-function approach provides new insight and it allows calculations on problems which would otherwise be exceedingly complicated. The approach is applied here to a two- or three-level atom coupled to a laser field and to the vacuum modes of the quantized electromagnetic field.
- Received 15 October 1991
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.68.580
©1992 American Physical Society