We examine theoretically the recent experiments of Lange and Walther on the dynamical interaction of Rydberg atoms in a microwave cavity in the presence of a strong driving field. In particular, we study how the intense field renormalizes the cavity-induced spontaneous emission. For this purpose we derive the master equation for the atomic dynamics by adiabatically eliminating the cavity-field variables, while treating the intense driving field nonperturbatively. We present analytical and numerical solutions of the master equation, taking into account the turn on and turn off of the atom-field coupling in the rest frame of the atoms, as well as the velocity distribution of the atomic beam. We obtain good agreement between theoretical results and experiments.

• Received 18 May 1993

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.48.4555