Inhibition of spontaneous emission in Fermi gases

Th. Busch, J. R. Anglin, J. I. Cirac, P. Zoller

Published 1998-05-05Version 1

Fermi inhibition is a quantum statistical analogue for the inhibition of spontaneous emission by an excited atom in a cavity. This is achieved when the relevant motional states are already occupied by a cloud of cold atoms in the internal ground state. We exhibit non-trivial effects at finite temperature and in anisotropic traps, and briefly consider a possible experimental realization.