Classical and quantum dynamics of atomic systems in the proximity of dielectric waveguides

This thesis studies the interaction between atomic systems and the evanescent fields of guided modes of planar waveguide.; Based on the quantum description of the electromagnetic field in the presence of waveguides, we derive expressions for the spontaneous emission rates. We show that the total spontaneous emission rate is increased by a factor of 2 in the immediate proximity of the waveguide. We find that the probability that an atom radiates into a guided mode could be 50% for an atom near the waveguide. For the special case of symmetric waveguides, we show that the probability to decay into a guided mode near cutoff can be as much as 10% at 1 microm from the surface.; We calculate the absorption and the phase shifts experienced by a guided mode if resonant atomic systems are placed above the waveguide. Using symmetric waveguides is shown to increase the signals by an order of magnitude. The change in lifetime near the waveguide is found to lead to an increase in the FWHM for the absorption line on the order of 10MHz.