Electrical Analogs of Atomic Radiative Decay Processes

Abstract

Simple electrical circuits are analyzed, and the results show that for high frequencies they have frequency and time responses identical to the spontaneous radiative decays of atoms. As an illustration of the analogy a two-circuit electrical system is compared with a two-level atom. The comparison leads to the identification of electrical analogs for quantum­ mechanical quantities. It is also shown that the responses of an appropriate electrical circuit can be compared with the decay characteristics of coupled three-level atomic systems.