Quantum theory of RF resonances: the semiclassical limit

Abstract

The author attempts to show that, in contradiction with work by Chang and Stehle, the semiclassical description of RF resonance experiments is valid. The density matrix equation of motion is set up for a two-level atom interacting with a one-mode quantized field. The terms giving the semiclassical description are separated and the contributions arising from the rest are carefully evaluated. Corrections to the semiclassical treatment are found to be of order n₀^-2, where n₀ is the average number of RF photons. In practice such corrections are negligible.