Electric Dipole Approximation – What Does This Symbol Mean in Perturbation Derivation?

dipoleelectromagnetismhamiltonianpolarizationsolid-state-physics

I'm reading electrodynamics physics notes that describe the polarization of a medium. The notes describe the active atoms as having two levels $a$ and $b$, separated by energy $\hbar \omega$ and represented by a density matrix $\rho$. The atoms are stationary.

The equation of motion of the density matrix is

$$\dot{\rho} = -i[H, \rho] – \dfrac{1}{2}\left(\Gamma \rho + \rho \Gamma \right) + \lambda,$$

where

$$\rho = \begin{bmatrix} \rho_{aa} & \rho_{ab} \\ \rho_{ba} & \rho_{bb} \end{bmatrix}, \ \ \ \ \ H = \begin{bmatrix} W_{a} & V \\ V & W_{b} \end{bmatrix}, \\ \Gamma = \begin{bmatrix} \gamma_{a} & 0 \\ 0 & \gamma_{b} \end{bmatrix}, \ \ \ \ \ \lambda = \begin{bmatrix} \lambda_{a} & 0 \\ 0 & \lambda_{b} \end{bmatrix}$$

The notes then state that the perturbation Hamiltonian is $\hbar V$, and the unperturbed energies of the levels are $\hbar W_a$ and $\hbar W_b$. Furthermore, the two levels decay with damping constants $\gamma_a$ and $\gamma_b$, and are populated by pumping at rates $\lambda_a$ and $\lambda_b$.

Therefore, using the Fourier expansion of the electric field $E(z, t) = \sum\limits_n A_n(t) u_n(z)$, where $u_n(z) = \sin(k_n z)$ and $k_n = \dfrac{n \pi}{L}$, the notes claim that the electric dipole approximation for the perturbation becomes

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I've included the image of the equation because I don't actually understand what that symbol between $A(t)$ and $u(z)$ is (I can't find it as a LaTeX symbol, and I've never seen it before). What is this symbol and how was it part of this derivation?


Relevant: Quantum Mechanical Electric Dipole Hamiltonian

$$V(t) = – \left( \sum_j \dfrac{q_j}{m_j} \left( \hat{\epsilon} \cdot \hat{p}_j \right) \right) \dfrac{E_0}{\omega} \sin(\omega t) \tag{7.3.13}$$

Best Answer

Energy of a dipole $p$ is minus $p$ times electric field (https://unlcms.unl.edu/cas/physics/tsymbal/teaching/EM-913/section4-Electrostatics.pdf), so your symbol probably denotes the electric dipole moment (which is closely related to polarization, as @ZeroTheHero suggested).

EDIT (Jan 20, 2022) Looks like the derivation of the energy of an electric dipole in the electric field is given in Journal of Modern Optics (2004) vol. 51, no. 8, 1137–114, Section 2, so the symbol is indeed the electric dipole moment.