Generalized non-Markovian optical Bloch equations

By considering single chromophore systems whose radiative decay can be written in terms of a nonlocal Lindblad-type evolution, the authors extend the formalism of generalized optical Bloch equations [Y. Zheng and F. L. H. Brown, Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 238305 (2003)] to non-Markovian dynamics. They demonstrate that photon statistical properties such as bunching and antibunching, as well as sub- and super-Poissonian photon statistics can be fitted in the context of non-Markovian dynamics. The nonlocal effects may arise due to the interaction with a complex structured environment. In this case, the photon statistics can be related with the parameters that define the microscopic system-environment interaction. Alternatively, the authors demonstrate that effective dynamics such as triplet blinking, where the system is coupled via incoherent transitions to an extra dark state, can also be worked out in terms of generalized non-Markovian optical Bloch equations. The corresponding memory contributions are mapped with those that arise from the microscopic approach. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.