Electromagnetic field induced modification of branching ratios for emission in structured vacuum

Abstract

We report a fundamental effect of the electromagnetic field induced modification of the branching ratios for emission into several final states. The modifications are especially significant if the vacuum into which the atom is radiating has a finite spectral width comparable with the separation of the final states. This is easily realizable in cavity QED. Further, our results are quite generic and are applicable to any system interacting with a structured reservoir.