Past exam of the quantum, atomic and molecular physics course of the University of Oxford / 2016 / 4 / d / Solution

Resolve the weak broadband radiation into narrow frequency intervals whose relative phases are uncorrelated. The transition probabilities, rather than the coherent amplitudes, can then be added after ensemble or time averaging. For the x-polarized field, the energy density in one interval is $\rho (\omega )d\omega ={ϵ}_0{\mathcal{E}}_{\omega }^2/2$, so its squared coupling is $|d_{21}{|}^2{\mathcal{E}}_{\omega }^2/{\hslash }^2$. Inserting this into the weak rotating-wave result givesFor times long compared with the optical coherence time of the field, the narrow resonant kernel samples a nearly constant $\rho ({\omega }_0)$. Provided the resonance is well away from the zero-frequency boundary, extend the Rabi detuning integral to the full real line. Its value is $2\pi t$, yieldingThis is the stimulated absorption rate for the specified polarization and spectral radiation energy density per angular-frequency interval. The averaging window should also satisfy $Wt\ll 1$ while the lower state is treated as undepleted. A deterministic phase-locked broadband pulse would not in general permit adding these probabilities without its interference terms.

For isotropic unpolarized radiation with total spectral radiation energy density ${\rho }_{\mathrm{tot}}$, orientational averaging instead gives $W=\pi |{\mathbf{d}}_{21}{|}^2{\rho }_{\mathrm{tot}}({\omega }_0)/(3{ϵ}_0{\hslash }^2)$. The factor one third is not inserted into the original x-polarized formula. If ordinary frequency is used, ${\rho }_{\nu }=2\pi {\rho }_{\omega }$ and the isotropic coefficient becomes $|{\mathbf{d}}_{21}{|}^2/(6{ϵ}_0{\hslash }^2)$ multiplying ${\rho }_{\nu }({\nu }_0)$. The spectral convention and polarization must be stated together to avoid spurious factors of three or $2\pi$.