Intrinsic decoherence in a system of three symmetric two-level atoms coupled to a single-mode cavity field

Abstract This work provides a theoretical study of a quantum system consisting of three two-level atoms coupled to a single-mode cavity field, focusing on the effects of intrinsic decoherence (ID). The system’s evolution is modeled using Milburn equation, with atoms initially excited and the field in a coherent state. The dynamics evolution of linear entropy (purity), the $$l_1$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>l</mml:mi> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> </mml:msub> </mml:math> -norm (coherence), and the mean photon number (collapse-revival) are analyzed. The results indicate that, as the decoherence parameter $$\gamma$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>γ</mml:mi> </mml:math> increases, purity and coherence decrease, and collapse-revival features are progressively suppressed. These findings highlight the key role of intrinsic decoherence in degrading the quantum properties of atom-field systems, which is essential for understanding and improving quantum technologies under intrinsic decoherence.