Abstract

A single magnetized electron driven by the EM wave in the vicinity of the cyclotron frequency can experience hysteretic resonance^1,2 caused by a tiny relativistic change of its mass. Here we develop a quantum theory of this effect considering a quantum anharmonic oscillator driven by a periodic force. Assuming the radiation relaxation and that the quantum transitions occur only between neighboring slightly nonequidistant eigenstates of the oscillator, we describe the dynamics of the system by the infinite number of coupled kinetic equations for the density matrix elements and derive a procedure for solving them.

© 1987 Optical Society of America