The effect of a coupling field on the entanglement dynamics of a three-level atom

The effect of a coupling laser field on the entanglement of a three-level quantum system and its spontaneous emission is investigated via reduced quantum entropy. We consider two schemes, the upper- and lower-level couplings. By calculating the degree of entanglement (DEM) for both systems, it is shown that the entanglement between atom and its spontaneous emission can be controlled by the coupling laser field. This field, however, affects the entanglement differently in the two schemes; it is only the lower-level coupling scheme that shows a nonzero steady state DEM which can be controlled by the intensity and detuning of the coupling laser field.