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.
The time-dependent theory of Courtens and Sz\"oke is generalized using the approach of Burnett et al. to derive time-dependent spectral intensities of resonance fluorescence from atoms driven by a pulsed laser in the presence of collisions. These results are valid both for laser detunings inside and outside the usual impact region of the spectrum, including Zeeman degeneracy effects. We apply this theory to a simple but important example (
J=0 to
J=1) to obtain quantitative predictions for the observable scattered-light spectrum which can be directly compared with recent experiments.