Quantum Zeno effect in cavity quantum electrodynamics: Experimental proposal with nonideal cavities and detectors

We propose an experiment for the observation of the quantum Zeno effect (QZE) in a bipartite system. The setup involves two microwave cavities and a “tunneling” photon, which is observed by the passage of Rydberg atoms. Our proposal allows for the consideration of two types of measurements, namely, sequential observations of the atomic state and its inclusive measurement. In the present system the two processes are shown to lead to the same result in the ideal case. We consider realistic atom-field interaction times, cavity dissipation, and limited detection efficiency. Analytical expressions for the “tunneling” probability are obtained exhibiting a competition between the environment induced exponential decay and the characteristic t² (for short times) dependence of the QZE. We show that for sufficiently small dissipation constants the effect can be observed with current experimental facilities.