On the phase structure of the micromaser system

We investigate, in an exact manner, the phase structure of the micromaser system in terms of the physical parameters at hand, such as the atom cavity transit time, tau, the atom-photon frequency detuning, Delta omega, the number of thermal photons, nh and the probability, a, for a pump atom to be in its excited state. Phase diagrams are mapped out for various values of the physical parameters. Al. sufficiently large values of the detuning, we find a "twinkling" mode of the micromaser system. A correlation Length is used to study fluctuations close to the various phase transitions. (C) Published by Elsevier Science B.V.