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Journal of Physics B Atomic and Molecular Physics

Dressed-atom description of resonance fluorescence and absorption spectra of a multi-level atom in an intense laser beam

Claude N. Cohen-Tannoudji, Serge Reynaud

Published Feb 21, 1977• 655 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A dressed-atom approach to resonance fluorescence in intense laser fields is presented. Simple and general results are derived which include the now well known predictions concerning two-level atoms but are not restricted to such simple cases. The positions of the various components of the fluorescence and absorption spectra are given by the allowed Bohr frequencies of the total system: atom+laser mode (dressed atom). The master equation, describing spontaneous emission from the dressed atom is solved in the limit of high intensities. Simple expressions, taking into account the effect of cascades, are derived for the widths of the components.

DOI
10.1088/0022-3700/10/3/005

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Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics•Jan 14, 1993•1 citation
A dressed-atom approach to resonance fluorescence in intense laser fields is presented. Simple and general results are derived which include the now well known predictions concerning two-level atoms but are not restricted to such simple cases. The positions of the various components of the fluorescence and absorption spectra are given by the allowed Bohr frequencies of the total system: atom+laser mode (dressed atom). The master equation, describing spontaneous emission from the dressed atom is solved in the limit of high intensities. Simple expressions, taking into account the effect of cascades, are derived for the widths of the components.
Resonance fluorescence consists of photon absorption and photon reemission by an atom interacting with a monochromatic, resonant and intense laser wave. The aim of this paper is to show that all fluorescence signals can be quantitatively calculated through the dressed atom method and that simple physical pictures can be associated to the results obtained in this manner. In such a method, the compound system «atom plus laser photons interacting together» (atom dressed by the laser photons) is first considered and the emission of fluorescence photons is then included as a radiative relaxation of this new quantum system. Emission frequencies thus appear as allowed Bohr frequencies of the dressed atom and Rabi nutation appears as a quantum beat signal between dressed states. Photon correlation and photon counting signals are well understood when fluorescence is considered as a radiative cascade of the dressed atom downwards its energy diagram. Mixed analysis time-frequency, for example study of temporal correlations between photons emitted in some sidebands of the fluorescence spectrum, is suggested by the dressed atom approach. Finally, when compared with the well known optical Bloch equations method, the dressed atom is shown to have a larger validity domain for the Markov approximation On montre que la methode de l'atome habille permet un calcul quantitatif de tous les signaux de fluorescence et associe les resultats a des interpretations physiques simples. Discussion des resultats et presentation des avantages de cette methode
We discuss analytically the resonance fluorescence of a three-level ladder system whose two transitions are simultaneously saturated by the fields from two lasers. The laser fields have fluctuating phases, which may be correlated to some extent. We generalize the dressed-atom approach of Cohen-Tannoudji and Reynaud [J. Phys. B 10, 345 (1977)] to deal with phase fluctuations under conditions of overall two-photon resonance, but not single-photon resonance on the individual transitions. In this respect we also generalize the master-equation approach of Lawande, Puri, and D'Souza [Phys. Rev. A 33, 2504 (1986)]. The effect of spontaneous emission and laser fluctuations on the resonance fluorescence quintet is discussed in detail, and shown to marked effects. We also investigate the effect of these quantities on the steady-state dressed-atom occupation probabilities, and point out that the double-resonance experiment can be used to prepare the atom in a given dressed state with high probability.
A dressed-atom approach is generalised for studying several effects which could be observed on an atomic beam interacting with two monochromatic resonant laser beams saturating two atomic transitions sharing a common level, a situation which occurs frequently in stepwise excitation experiments. The problem of the optimisation of the population of the upper state is investigated. Analytical expressions are derived for the positions, the widths and the weights of the various components of the fluorescence and absorption spectra. The results obtained at the limit where one of the two lasers has a much weaker intensity than the other one are interpreted perturbatively by treating to lowest orders the scattering of the weak laser beam by the atom dressed by the intense one.
We experimentally study the resonance fluorescence from an excited two-level atom when the atomic upper level is coupled by a nonresonant field to a higher-lying state in a rubidium atomic beam. The heights, widths and positions of the fluorescence peaks can be controlled by modifying the detuning of the auxiliary field. We explain the observed spectrum with the transition properties of the dressed states generated by the coupling of the two laser fields. We also attribute the line narrowing to the effects of Spontaneously Generated Coherence between the close-lying levels in the dressed state picture generated by the auxiliary field. And the corresponding spectrum can be viewed as the evidence of Spontaneously Generated Coherence. The experimental results agree well with calculations based on the density-matrix equations.
We examine the radiative properties of a two-level atom driven by a strong bichromatic field with frequencies ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\omega}}}_{1}$=${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\omega}}}_{0}$-${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\delta}}}_{1}$ and ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\omega}}}_{2}$=${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\omega}}}_{0}$+${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\delta}}}_{2}$, which can be asymmetrically placed about the atomic transition frequency ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\omega}}}_{0}$ and can have different Rabi frequencies ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Omega}}}_{1}$ and ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Omega}}}_{2}$. Applying the optical Bloch equations for the bichromatic excitation, we derive an infinite set of equations of motion for the time evolution of the atomic variables. The equations are solved numerically by matrix inversion and Laplace transforms. Using the quantum regression theorem, we then solve for the steady-state total fluorescence intensity, and the resonance-fluorescence and absorption spectra. The spectra are found to depend on the frequency difference 2\ensuremath{\delta}=${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\delta}}}_{1}$+${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\delta}}}_{2}$, the average detuning \ensuremath{\Delta}=${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\omega}}}_{0}$-1/2(${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\omega}}}_{1}$+${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\omega}}}_{2}$), and the Rabi frequencies of the driving fields. For ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Omega}}}_{1}$=${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Omega}}}_{2}$=\ensuremath{\Omega}, the total fluorescent intensity displays a series of maxima for \ensuremath{\Delta}=\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}n\ensuremath{\delta}\ensuremath{\mp}${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Omega}}}^{2}$/4\ensuremath{\delta}, where the n are the odd integers. The intensity-dependent shift from the resonances n\ensuremath{\delta} is explained as an analog of the generalized Bloch-Siegert shift. The resonance-fluorescence spectrum for \ensuremath{\Delta}\ensuremath{\ne}0 appears to contain more peaks than that for \ensuremath{\Delta}=0.This is due to the splitting of the central peak and the even sidebands into doublets. The absorption spectrum of a weak-probe beam for \ensuremath{\Delta}=0 and equal Rabi frequencies consists of a symmetric series of dispersionlike sidebands separated from ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\omega}}}_{0}$ by integer multiples of \ensuremath{\delta}, together with a central absorption peak at ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\omega}}}_{0}$, whose amplitude oscillates with \ensuremath{\Omega}. For \ensuremath{\Delta}\ensuremath{\ne}0 and/or ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Omega}}}_{1}$\ensuremath{\ne}${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Omega}}}_{2}$, the odd sidebands remain dispersionlike, while the central peak and the even sidebands split into absorption-emission doublets. A simple physical interpretation of the spectral features is given in terms of the dressed-atom model.
The fluorescence spectra of a two level atom interacting with amplitude modulated intense fields are presented. The spectra are multipeaked and can be in general described as a superposition of triplets. The incoherent spectra for the fully amplitude modulated field and those under conditions of parametric resonance are predicted to have a width that depends on the modulation intensity. This feature is different from the known intensity-independent widths of the peaks in the Mollow spectrum. The transient spectra for an atom placed in the dressed state of a partially amplitude modulated field are found to show variation in the peak height. In some cases, one of the peaks of each triplet is suppressed while in another situation, all the peaks lying to one side of the spectral centre are absent.