Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Physical Review A

Coherent intermittency in the resonant fluorescence of a multilevel atom

Massimo Porrati B, Seth Putterman

Published Mar 1, 1989• 37 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Time correlations in the fluorescence of a multilevel atom are studied in terms of the quantum statistics which describe the emission of the next photon. The next photon equations are substantially simpler than the a photon equations (or so-called optical Bloch equations) yet they contain phase information lost in the averaging procedure that yields the a photon equations. Employing the next photon equations we present a quantum formalism in which the time development of the wave function of the atom is dramatically modified by the observation of a dark period. This ``collapse'' of the quantum state due to measurements with a null result (such as the failure to record events in a photodetector) is the cause of intermittent atomic fluorescence even when the exciting field is arbitrarily coherent. The next photon and a photon formalisms are contrasted and applied to photon antibunching. The phenomenon of photon bunching which characterizes sideband correlations is also calculated. Observable effects particular to the coherent intermittency are emphasized.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.39.3010

Related papers

Wave-function collapse due to null measurements: The origin of intermittent atomic fluorescence

Massimo Porrati B, Seth Putterman

The observation of no photons emitted by a fluorescing multilevel atom dramatically affects its future evolution. This collapse of the quantum state due to measurements with a null result is the cause of intermittent atomic fluorescence even when the exciting field is arbitrarily coherent.

Physical Review A•Jul 1, 1987•100 citations

Regimes of Coherent Intermittency in the Next Quantum Jump of a Multilevel System

Massimo Porrati B, Nicholas E. Penthorn, John Rooney +2 more

In an externally driven multilevel quantum system observation that the NEXT jump has not yet happened affects its future development. In previous work [Phys. Rev. A36, 929 (1987)] it was shown that this class of measurement makes it possible to observe remarkably long dark intervals -- or intermittency -- in the atomic fluorescence of an atom with 3 or more levels. Those calculations were carried out when the driven oscillations or Rabi flopping between the ground state and a strongly fluorescing state were fast compared to its lifetime. In systems with solid state Qubits the accessible parameter space is generally limited to the regime where oscillations are slower than the lifetime. In this paper we evaluate intermittency in atomic transitions, due to measurements with a null result, in this limit. During the dark periods the wave function of the continuously measured multilevel system is coherent.

arXiv:1810.03225•Oct 7, 2018•1 citation

Photon statistics and quantum jumps: the picture of the dressed atom radiative cascade

Serge Reynaud, Jean Dalibard, Claude N. Cohen-Tannoudji

The statistics of spontaneous photon emission times in single atom resonance fluorescence are investigated through the radiative cascade of the dressed atom. The delay function which gives the distribution of the delays between two successive emissions is calculated for a coherent as well as an incoherent laser excitation. For a two-level atom, various signals that reflect the fluorescence intensity (average value, photon counting, fluctuation spectrum, etc.) are reviewed by this method. For a three-level atom, this approach is applied to the analysis of the recently observed phenomenon of intermittent fluorescence and quantum jumps.>

IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics•Jul 1, 1988•45 citations

Interrupted fluorescence, quantum jumps and wavefunction collapse. II

David Thomas Pegg, P. L. Knight

For pt.I see Phys. Rev. A, vol.37, p.4303 (1988). The principle of wavefunction collapse by non-detection of photons leads to simple but rigorous expressions for the average dark and bright periods, T D and T B , of intermittent quantum jump fluorescence from a V-configuration three-level atom. Here further consequences of this principle are explored, including: the derivation of some new correlation functions which exhibit the physical characteristics of extended dark and bright periods; the expressions for T D and T B when one transition is driven coherently and the other incoherently; and a general expression for the characteristic time to be sure that a quantum jump has occurred for any type of driving field.

Journal of Physics D Applied Physics•Oct 14, 1988•8 citations

Interrupted fluorescence, quantum jumps, and wave-function collapse

David Thomas Pegg, P. L. Knight

The phenomenon of antibunching provides important support for the physical principle of the collapse of the wave function following a detection of a photon. In this paper we show that interrupted fluorescence in a three-level, V-configuration atom, with one transition strongly driven and one weakly driven, can be regarded as evidence supporting the complementary principle of ``collapse by nondetection.'' Use of this principle leads to the immediate deduction of remarkably simple general expressions for the average bright and dark periods, which allows these quantities to be calculated for both coherent and incoherent excitation without the need to solve the density-matrix equations, or even to find their long-term steady-state solutions. Thus the concept of collapse by nondetection appears to be not only valid but is also useful for predicting physically observable phenomena.

Physical Review A•Jun 1, 1988•38 citations

Photon-emission statistics in resonance fluorescence in a broadband squeezed vacuum

B. N. Jagatap, S. V. Lawande, Q. V. Lawande

We study the statistical properties of fluorescence from a coherently driven two-level atom placed in a broadband squeezed vacuum. The photon statistics are studied in terms of waiting time distribution or the delay function that describes the probability of emission of the very next photon following an emission of a photon initially. In an intense field limit, we analytically obtain the delay function for total emission and examine its phase-dependent behavior in a squeezed vacuum. We further analytically calculate the delay functions for the Mollow sidebands and use them to discuss the time correlation and successive emission of photons belonging to the left and right sidebands.

Physical Review A•Jun 1, 1991•6 citations
Time correlations in the fluorescence of a multilevel atom are studied in terms of the quantum statistics which describe the emission of the next photon. The next photon equations are substantially simpler than the a photon equations (or so-called optical Bloch equations) yet they contain phase information lost in the averaging procedure that yields the a photon equations. Employing the next photon equations we present a quantum formalism in which the time development of the wave function of the atom is dramatically modified by the observation of a dark period. This ``collapse'' of the quantum state due to measurements with a null result (such as the failure to record events in a photodetector) is the cause of intermittent atomic fluorescence even when the exciting field is arbitrarily coherent. The next photon and a photon formalisms are contrasted and applied to photon antibunching. The phenomenon of photon bunching which characterizes sideband correlations is also calculated. Observable effects particular to the coherent intermittency are emphasized.
In an externally driven multilevel quantum system observation that the NEXT jump has not yet happened affects its future development. In previous work [Phys. Rev. A36, 929 (1987)] it was shown that this class of measurement makes it possible to observe remarkably long dark intervals -- or intermittency -- in the atomic fluorescence of an atom with 3 or more levels. Those calculations were carried out when the driven oscillations or Rabi flopping between the ground state and a strongly fluorescing state were fast compared to its lifetime. In systems with solid state Qubits the accessible parameter space is generally limited to the regime where oscillations are slower than the lifetime. In this paper we evaluate intermittency in atomic transitions, due to measurements with a null result, in this limit. During the dark periods the wave function of the continuously measured multilevel system is coherent.
The statistics of spontaneous photon emission times in single atom resonance fluorescence are investigated through the radiative cascade of the dressed atom. The delay function which gives the distribution of the delays between two successive emissions is calculated for a coherent as well as an incoherent laser excitation. For a two-level atom, various signals that reflect the fluorescence intensity (average value, photon counting, fluctuation spectrum, etc.) are reviewed by this method. For a three-level atom, this approach is applied to the analysis of the recently observed phenomenon of intermittent fluorescence and quantum jumps.>
For pt.I see Phys. Rev. A, vol.37, p.4303 (1988). The principle of wavefunction collapse by non-detection of photons leads to simple but rigorous expressions for the average dark and bright periods, T D and T B , of intermittent quantum jump fluorescence from a V-configuration three-level atom. Here further consequences of this principle are explored, including: the derivation of some new correlation functions which exhibit the physical characteristics of extended dark and bright periods; the expressions for T D and T B when one transition is driven coherently and the other incoherently; and a general expression for the characteristic time to be sure that a quantum jump has occurred for any type of driving field.
The phenomenon of antibunching provides important support for the physical principle of the collapse of the wave function following a detection of a photon. In this paper we show that interrupted fluorescence in a three-level, V-configuration atom, with one transition strongly driven and one weakly driven, can be regarded as evidence supporting the complementary principle of ``collapse by nondetection.'' Use of this principle leads to the immediate deduction of remarkably simple general expressions for the average bright and dark periods, which allows these quantities to be calculated for both coherent and incoherent excitation without the need to solve the density-matrix equations, or even to find their long-term steady-state solutions. Thus the concept of collapse by nondetection appears to be not only valid but is also useful for predicting physically observable phenomena.
We study the statistical properties of fluorescence from a coherently driven two-level atom placed in a broadband squeezed vacuum. The photon statistics are studied in terms of waiting time distribution or the delay function that describes the probability of emission of the very next photon following an emission of a photon initially. In an intense field limit, we analytically obtain the delay function for total emission and examine its phase-dependent behavior in a squeezed vacuum. We further analytically calculate the delay functions for the Mollow sidebands and use them to discuss the time correlation and successive emission of photons belonging to the left and right sidebands.