Vacuum Rabi oscillation induced by virtual photons in the ultrastrong coupling regime

We present an interaction scheme that exhibits a dynamical consequence of virtual photons carried by a vacuum-field dressed two-level atom in the ultrastrong coupling regime. We show that, with the aid of an external driving field, virtual photons provide a transition matrix element that enables the atom to evolve coherently and reversibly to an auxiliary level accompanied by the emission of a real photon. The process corresponds to a type of vacuum Rabi oscillation, and we show that the effective vacuum Rabi frequency is proportional to the amplitude of a single virtual photon in the ground state. Therefore the interaction scheme could serve as a probe of ground state structures in the ultrastrong coupling regime.