The statistical atom

Theodore Hodapp, M. A. Finn, G. W. Greenlees

Photons spontaneously emitted from single atoms are necessarily antibunched in time. The statistics of the photon time record, however, can show sub-Poissonian or even super-Poissonian statistics and depend strongly on the time interval used for analysis. In this work we have analyzed photon arrival times from resonantly excited barium atoms in an atomic beam observed under single-atom conditions. The time-interval dependence of photon statistics is presented, showing the connection between antibunching and sub-Poissonian statistics (at times comparable to the spontaneous-decay lifetime of the atom) as well as the evolution of the statistics in the long-time limit.

Gilberto Aparecido Prataviera

We consider the effects of the trap environment on atomic and optical quantum statistical properties and on atom-photon correlations in the collective atomic-recoil laser. Atomic and optical statistical properties, as well as atom-photon correlations are dependent on the optical-field intensity and phase. In particular, depending on the values of the optical-field intensity and phase, the field statistics vary from coherent to superchaotic.

Liangyun Liu, Yuzhu Wang

In this paper, we calculate the photon statistics of resonance fluorescence of a two-level atom driven by a laser field. The results show that the photon statistics tend to Poissonian if we consider the photon statistics starting from the ground state of the atom. We propose a possible method to test the photon statistics of resonance fluorescence.