Hamiltonian chaos in the interaction of moving two-level atoms with cavity vacuum

We study nonlinear dynamics of the fundamental cavity quantum-electrodynamical system consisting of a point-like collection of identical two-level atoms moving through a lossless single-mode cavity. Taking into account the interatomic and the atom-field quantum correlations of the first order, we go beyond the semiclassical model and derive a dynamical system that is able to describe the vacuum Rabi oscillations with atoms moving in a spatially inhomogeneous cavity field. A simple expression for the equilibrium points of this system provides a class of initial conditions for atoms and a cavity mode under which the atomic population and radiation may be trapped. In the strong-coupling limit and the rotating-wave approximation; the model is shown to be integrable with atoms moving through a resonant cavity with an arbitrary spatial profile of the mode along the propagation axis. The general exact solution is derived in an explicit form in terms of Jacobian elliptic functions. Numerical simulation confirms that perturbations, that are produced by a modulation of the coupling between moving atoms and a cavity mode, provide, out of resonance, a mechanism responsible for Hamiltonian chaos in the interaction of two-level atoms with cavity vacuum. These chaotic vacuum Rabi oscillations may be considered as a new kind of reversible spontaneous emission. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.