arXiv:2208.06575 · Physical Review A
Observation of the Mollow triplet from an optically confined single atom
Boon Long Ng, Chang Hoong Chow, Christian Kurtsiefer
Abstract
Resonance fluorescence from atomic systems consists of a single spectral peak that evolves into a Mollow triplet for a strong excitation field. Photons from different peaks of the triplet show distinct timing correlations that make the fluorescence a useful light source for quantum information purposes. We characterize the fluorescence of a single optically trapped $^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ atom that is excited resonantly at different power levels. Second-order correlation measurements reveal the single photon nature of the fluorescence concurrently with Rabi oscillations of a strongly excited atom. The asymmetry in correlations between photons from two sidebands of the fluorescence spectrum when the atom is exposed to an off-resonant field indicates that there is a preferred time ordering of the emitted photons from different sidebands.