Semiclassical Atom-field interaction

[Relena]

In the semi-classical treatment of light-Atom interaction, light is treated as an electromagnetic wave while atom is thought of as a quantized harmonic oscillator with discrete energy eigenfunctions, the atom can absorb energy from the incident wave and become excited under certain conditions.

my question is, can this semi-classical treatment be extended to any any electromagnetic field, not necessarily an electromagnetic wave?

for example the oscillating electric field between the plates of a capacitor in an RLC circuit. if tuned to match one of the atom's resonant frequencies, can it induce energy state transition? (theoretically at least, although I think it's rather impractical to achieve atomic frequencies in that case)

any texts/links on this subject will be helpful.

 

[Valerie Park]

In theory, yes, the semi-classical treatment of light-atom interaction can be extended to any electromagnetic field, including the oscillating electric field between the plates of a capacitor in an RLC circuit. However, it is unlikely that such a system would be able to induce energy state transitions in the atom, since there are very stringent requirements for the frequency, amplitude, and phase of the electric field in order for the atom to absorb energy from the field and become excited. Furthermore, it is difficult to achieve atomic frequencies in an RLC circuit.