The main aim of the present work is to report the atomic populations for lambda-type three level atoms embedded in a left-handed material. To follow this aim, we use the quantization of electromagnetic field in such materials and advance the well known Markov approximation to the second order. From this second-order approximation we show that the population of the upper level is sinusoidal with a decreasing amplitude which eventually vanishes. As expected, the population of the lower two levels, although sinusoidal, have ascending amplitudes, approaching constant values. A comparison between this behavior and that in the right-handed materials is also given.

Keywords: Field quantization, Spontaneous emission, Magnetodielectrics, Left-handed media

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