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Cambridge University Press eBooks

Resonance fluorescence

Marlan O. Scully, Muhammad Suhail Zubairy

Published Sep 4, 1997• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The phenomenon of resonance fluorescence provides an interesting manifestation of the quantum theory of light and is a “real world” application of the material of the Chapters 8 and 9. In this process, a two-level atom is typically driven by a resonant continuous-wave laser field and the spectral and quantum statistical properties of the fluorescent light emitted by the atom are measured. Experimentally this can be achieved by scattering a laser off a collimated atomic beam such that the directions of the laser beam, atomic beam, and detector axis are mutually perpendicular as shown in Fig. 10.1. If the driving field is monochromatic, then at low excitation intensity the atom absorbs a photon at the excitation frequency and reemits it at the same frequency as a consequence of conservation of energy. The spectral width of the fluorescent light is therefore very narrow. The situation, however, is considerably more complicated when the excitation intensity increases and the Rabi frequency associated with the driving field becomes comparable to, or larger than, the atomic linewidth. At such intensity levels, the Rabi oscillations show up as a modulation of the quantum dipole moment and sidebands start emerging in the spectrum of the emitted radiation. This so-called dynamic Stark splitting is an interesting feature of the atom–field interaction. In addition to that, the fluorescent light exhibits certain nonclassical properties including photon antibunching and squeezing. In this chapter, we develop a theory of resonance fluorescence to explain these phenomena.

DOI
10.1017/cbo9780511813993.012

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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE•Jul 1, 1990•0 citations
The phenomenon of resonance fluorescence provides an interesting manifestation of the quantum theory of light and is a “real world” application of the material of the Chapters 8 and 9. In this process, a two-level atom is typically driven by a resonant continuous-wave laser field and the spectral and quantum statistical properties of the fluorescent light emitted by the atom are measured. Experimentally this can be achieved by scattering a laser off a collimated atomic beam such that the directions of the laser beam, atomic beam, and detector axis are mutually perpendicular as shown in Fig. 10.1. If the driving field is monochromatic, then at low excitation intensity the atom absorbs a photon at the excitation frequency and reemits it at the same frequency as a consequence of conservation of energy. The spectral width of the fluorescent light is therefore very narrow. The situation, however, is considerably more complicated when the excitation intensity increases and the Rabi frequency associated with the driving field becomes comparable to, or larger than, the atomic linewidth. At such intensity levels, the Rabi oscillations show up as a modulation of the quantum dipole moment and sidebands start emerging in the spectrum of the emitted radiation. This so-called dynamic Stark splitting is an interesting feature of the atom–field interaction. In addition to that, the fluorescent light exhibits certain nonclassical properties including photon antibunching and squeezing. In this chapter, we develop a theory of resonance fluorescence to explain these phenomena.
Resonance fluorescence from a single two-level atom driven by a beam of squeezed light is studied in the weak field limit. We consider the situation where the atom is coupled to the ordinary vacuum and only a few field modes corresponding to the driving field are squeezed. The field produced by the degenerate optical parametric oscillator is used as the driving field. This driving field can be described in terms of two real independent Gaussian processes. Heisenberg equations of motion are solved in the steady-state, and analytic expressions for the fluorescent light intensity and the spectrum of fluorescent light are derived. We also consider photon statistics of fluorescent light. In particular, squeezing, antibunching, and sub-Poissonian statistics of fluorescent photons are discussed and analytic expressions for the quadrature variance and the two-time intensity correlation function are presented. Contrary to the case of coherent excitation the second-order intensity correlation function does not factorize.
Resonance fluorescence of two two-level atoms driven by a coherent laser field propagating parallel to the interatomic axis is examined, taking into account the dipole-dipole interaction. We show that the number of peaks in the fluorescence intensity depends on the direction of observation with respect to the interatomic axis and on whether the system is driven by a standing-wave or a running-wave laser field. When the system is driven by the standing-wave field the fluorescence intensity shows two peaks and a dip for an observation direction perpendicular to the interatomic axis and three peaks in the direction parallel to it. When the system is driven by the running-wave field only two peaks are observed for the perpendicular direction. We explain these features in terms of the collective states of the system and show that the directional effect can be attributed to the fact that the antisymmetric state of the system does not radiate in the direction perpendicular to the interatomic axis. Photon statistics also demonstrate the directional effect for the standing-wave field. Frequency regimes are found where sub-Poissonian photon statistics occur. Depending on the direction of the observation, a state close to a Fock state can occur for one or two frequencies of the driving field, corresponding to zero-photon-number fluctuations or maximum sub-Poissonian behavior. The fluorescence spectrum is found to depend on the direction of observation and the interatomic separation. For small interatomic separations and a standing-wave driving field the spectrum exhibits seven lines for the perpendicular direction and 13 lines in the direction parallel to the interatomic axis. For the running-wave field the spectrum shows 13 lines independent of the direction of observation. Moreover, we show that for particular interatomic separations dark regimes appear in the spectrum. We discuss the effect of the dipole-dipole interaction on the dark states and explain the spectral features in terms of the dressed-atom model. We also consider the absorption spectrum of a weak probe beam illuminating the two-atom system. We show that apart from a weak dispersion structure, the spectrum shows large peaks as one of the atoms is moved to successive nodes of the field.
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.
Resonance fluorescence from a single two-level atom driven by a beam of squeezed light is studied in the weak-field limit. We consider the situation where the atom is coupled to the ordinary vacuum and only a few field modes corresponding to the driving field are squeezed. The field produced by the degenerate optical parametric oscillator is used as the driving field. Heisenberg equations of motion are solved in the steady-state and analytic expressions for the fluorescent-light intensity and the spectrum of fluorescent light are derived. We also consider photon statistics of fluorescent light. In particular, squeezing, antibunching, and sub-Poissonian statistics of fluorescent photons are discussed, and analytic expressions for the quadrature variance and the two-time intensity correlation function are presented. Contrary to the case of coherent excitation, the second-order intensity correlation function does not factorize. This and other differences are discussed, and curves are presented to illustrate the behavior of various quantities. We also present results for thermal excitation of the atom.
The calculation is given of the spectral distribution of resonance fluorescence from an atom that is driven near a j=12j=\frac{1}{2}j=21​ to j=12j=\frac{1}{2}j=21​ transition by a monochromatic, xxx-polarized electric field and that is subject to radiation damping only. In accordance with Mollow's results for a two-level system, the power spectrum of the scattered radiation corresponding to the xxx component of the dipole moment contains a coherent part for all driving-field intensities. The coherent part is absent in the fluorescence radiation corresponding to the yyy and zzz components of the dipole moment. For weak driving fields all power scattered by these latter components is present in a narrow Lorentzian. Consistent with energy conservation, the width of the Lorentzian corresponds to the probability of excitation of the atom out of its ground level due to the presence of the driving field. For strong driving fields the power spectra corresponding to the xxx component and to the yyy or zzz component mainly differ in the heights and widths of their central incoherent band and their Rabi-precession-frequency-shifted side bands.
In this contribution quantum-effects in the radiation-atom interaction will be reviewed. It is well known that most of the phenomena involving laser light can be described by semi-classical methods however phenomena such as laser noise the spectra and photon statistics of resonance fluorescence and the interaction of atoms in the single-atom maser require a quantization of the radiation field. In this paper we will describe results on the latter two effects. We will start with the discussion of resonance fluorescence. 1. RESONANCE FLUORESCENCE The resonant interaction of laser light with atomic systems has received considerable theoretical and experimental attention over the past decade. Until the advent of the laser light sources for spectroscopy consisted of ordinary spectral lamps excited by DC or RF discharges and produced light having a very broad spectral width and hence very short correlation time and a relatively low intensity. For such fields both the experimental and theoretical results are in general well understood. However the development of the laser made available light sources which are sufficiently intense that an atomic (or molecular) transition can be very easily saturated. In addition the lasers are highly monochromatic having a coherence time much greater than typical natural lifetimes of excited atomic states and finally tunable making it possible to selectively excite particular atomic transitions. The theoretical analysis of this physical situation requires the use of techniques more general than