Engineering Collective and Squeezed Field Interactions

Abstract

In this chapter, we shall consider methods of engineering collective interactions between atoms and a squeezed field-type damping of an atom. The concept of the collective behavior of atoms discussed in Chap. 4 was based on the assumption that distances between the atoms are smaller or comparable to the resonant wavelength. At such small distances, the atoms can behave collectively and we have seen that the collective effects are manifested in the presence of the collective damping , which alters the damping rates of the transitions, and the dipole–dipole interaction which shifts the energies of the atomic single-excitation levels. However, it is not easy in practice to bring trapped atoms into very small distances and keep the interacting atoms at fixed positions. The current experimental schemes can trap atoms at distances much larger than their resonant wavelengths.