The Q function in the undamped Jaynes-Cummings model for a coherent initial state in the rotating-wave approximation is investigated. By applying the method of steepest decent and saddle-point integration in the limit of high photon numbers, closed analytic expressions for the Q function at different times are given, from which analytic expressions for the Rabi frequency, revival times, envelope shapes of the inversion, beat frequencies, etc. are derived. As Eiselt and one of us have shown [J. Eiselt and H. Risken, Phys. Rev. A 43, 346 (1991)], the Q function first splits into two peaks which counterrotate in the complex plane and then collide on the opposite side of the plane. This behavior of the Q function leads to an interpretation of the collapses and revivals of the Rabi oscillations and a better understanding of expressions for the Rabi frequency, revival times, envelope shapes of the inversion, beat frequencies, etc. The results are generalized to N-photon processes; in particular, the cases N=2 and 4 are treated in some detail.

• Received 6 March 1992

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.46.4323