Shape of Specral Line At The Optical Decay of An Idealized Atom
The "isolated" quantum system (atom, ion, molecule or even a quantum dot) may have metastable states, weakly coupled to the outer world. (Some couliknd should be taken into account; otherwize, there is no optical decay.) In the idealized case, the evolution of the system is disturbed only by the interaction with the continuum of the modes of the electromagnetic field. Then, the spectral width of the emitted photons is determined by the relaxation rate. For the narrow spectral lines, the decay is almost exponential; then, the profile of the spectral line is determined by the Fourier-transform of the exponential decay of the quantum amplitude of probability that the system is still excited; this profile is Lorentian.
Read more about this topic: Optical Decay
Famous quotes containing the words shape of, shape, line, optical, decay, idealized and/or atom:
“Is it true or false that Belfast is north of London? That the galaxy is the shape of a fried egg? That Beethoven was a drunkard? That Wellington won the battle of Waterloo? There are various degrees and dimensions of success in making statements: the statements fit the facts always more or less loosely, in different ways on different occasions for different intents and purposes.”
—J.L. (John Langshaw)
“Caught by the spectacle my mind turned round
As with the might of waters; an apt type
This label seemed of the utmost we can know,
Both of ourselves and of the universe;
And, on the shape of that unmoving man,
His steadfast face and sightless eyes, I gazed,
As if admonished from another world.”
—William Wordsworth (1770–1850)
“This is something that I cannot get over—that a whole line could be written by half a man, that a work could be built on the quicksand of a character.”
—Karl Kraus (1874–1936)
“There is an optical illusion about every person we meet.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“It has taken me nearly twenty years of studied self-restraint, aided by the natural decay of my faculties, to make myself dull enough to be accepted as a serious person by the British public; and I am not sure that I am not still regarded as a suspicious character in some quarters.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“For women ... bras, panties, bathing suits, and other stereotypical gear are visual reminders of a commercial, idealized feminine image that our real and diverse female bodies can’t possibly fit. Without these visual references, each individual woman’s body demands to be accepted on its own terms. We stop being comparatives. We begin to be unique.”
—Gloria Steinem (b. 1934)
“Truth is one, but error proliferates. Man tracks it down and cuts it up into little pieces hoping to turn it into grains of truth. But the ultimate atom will always essentially be an error, a miscalculation.”
—René Daumal (1908–1944)