EFFECT OF ATOM PAIRS ON THE VACUUM TRAPPING STATE IN MICROMASERS - A MONTE-CARLO WAVE-FUNCTION APPROACH

We calculate the lifetime of the vacuum trapping state in a micromaser , using both the Monte Carlo wave-function method and an analytic appr oximation, and show it to be a rapidly changing function of the averag e number of atoms in the cavity, when this number is much smaller than one, Our method leads to a realistic simulation of experiments, allow ing for different field profiles, temperatures, and atomic velocity sp reads.