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Measuring Vacuum Fluctuation Suppression Effects

In this work, we examine possible non-gravitational methods for measuring sub-vacuum phenomena, such as negative energy density. The effect of a quantized electromagnetic field on the de-excitation probability of atoms is analyzed. We treat states of the field, such as squeezed vacuum states, where the renormalized expectation value of the square of the electric field operator can be periodically negative, due to the periodic suppression of vacuum fluctuations. We consider excited atoms which transit a closed cavity containing the lowest excited mode of the field. We find the conditions of the atom-cavity system under which a decrease in the de-excitation probability for the atom (as compared to its value in the vacuum state) is correlated with periods of negative E-squared. Thus, under these circumstances, the system functions as a ``negative E-squared detector.'' In certain limiting cases, it can also function as a negative energy detector. We give some order-of-magnitude estimates on the size of these effects.

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