The excitation of Rydberg atom transitions by submillimeter-wavelength radiation in high-Q cavities forms the basis of the micromaser. The excitation dynamics of a micromaser is known to be dependent on the detailed photon statistics in the interaction cavity and can exhibit well-known collapses and revivals of the atomic inversion, dipole moment, and photon number. We study these effects in a two-photon model in which the time evolution is exactly periodic. We study the field entropy in two two-photon cases and link the fluctuations in the field phase to the changes in the field entropy. We also calculate the statistical Q function of the field and show how the periodicity of the two-photon dynamics is linked to a periodic splitting of the Q function in phase space. Finally this periodicity is linked to the nature of the atom-field dressed states involved in two-photon resonance.

© 1990 Optical Society of America

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