Resonance fluorescence due to intense laser fields from a Zeeman degenerate atom being perturbed by collisional interactions is calculated in the impact regime by using the quantum-fluctuation-regression theorem. Various interesting effects are found. For example, the scattered intensity spectrum for a
J=0 to
J=1 transition for polarization parallel to the laser polarization is essentially an asymmetric triplet, whereas for a perpendicular polarization due to collisions the spectrum is essentially a doublet (whose frequencies do not correspond with any of those of the triplet). Further, the width of the fluorescent component (whose frequency is close to the unperturbed frequency) actually decreases with increasing laser power.
In the experiment with barium vapor (close approximation of a two-level system) we found spectra of resonance fluorescence having the form of a pressure-broadened line with a narrow, not collisionally broadened, dip. They are interpreted as the result of collisionally-induced quantum interference among possible spontaneous emission channels of a dressed atom subjected to stochastic perturbation. Also, the analogy between these effects and the coherent population trapping in three-level systems is pointed out.