Chapter 9: Q6P (page 345)
Calculate , to second order, for a time-independent perturbation in Problem 9.2. Compare your answer with the exact result.
Short Answer
The formula agree up to second order.
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Chapter 9: Q6P (page 345)
Calculate , to second order, for a time-independent perturbation in Problem 9.2. Compare your answer with the exact result.
The formula agree up to second order.
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Show that the spontaneous emission rate (Equation 9.56) for a transition from to in hydrogen is
where
(The atom starts out with a specific value of m, and it goes toof the state鈥檚 mconsistent with the selection rules: or m -1 . Notice that the answer is independent of m .) Hint: First calculate all the nonzero matrix elements of x,y,and z between role="math" localid="1658313179553" andfor the case . From these, determine the quantity
Then do the same for.
For the examples inProblem 11.24(c) and (d), calculate to first order. Check the normalization condition:
,
and comment on any discrepancy. Suppose you wanted to calculate the probability of remaining in the original state ; would you do better to use ?
In Equation 9.31 assumed that the atom is so small (in comparison to the wavelength of light) that spatial variations in the field can be ignored. The true electric field would be
If the atom is centered at the origin, then over the relevant volume, so and that's why we could afford to drop this term. Suppose we keep the first-order correction:
The first term gives rise to the allowed (electric dipole) transitions we considered in the text; the second leads to so-called forbidden (magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole) transitions (higher powers of lead to even more "forbidden" transitions, associated with higher multipole moments).
(a) Obtain the spontaneous emission rate for forbidden transitions (don't bother to average over polarization and propagation directions, though this should really be done to complete the calculation). Answer:role="math" localid="1659008133999"
(b) Show that for a one-dimensional oscillator the forbidden transitions go from level to levelrole="math" localid="1659008239387" and the transition rate (suitably averaged over ) is
(Note: Here is the frequency of the photon, not the oscillator.) Find the ratio of the "forbidden" rate to the "allowed" rate, and comment on the terminology.
(c) Show that the transition in hydrogen is not possible even by a "forbidden" transition. (As it turns out, this is true for all the higher multipoles as well; the dominant decay is in fact by two-photon emission, and the lifetime it is about a tenth of a second
We have encountered stimulated emission, (stimulated) absorption, and spontaneous emission. How come there is no such thing as spontaneous absorption?
As a mechanism for downward transitions, spontaneous emission competes with thermally stimulated emission (stimulated emission for which blackbody radiation is the source). Show that at room temperature (T = 300 K) thermal stimulation dominates for frequencies well below , whereas spontaneous emission dominates for frequencies well above . Which mechanism dominates for visible light?
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