We study resonance fluorescence spectra from a two-level atom strongly driven by both optical and acoustic fields. We observe cancellation of the central peak and extract optimal phonon cooling conditions in the driven atom-phonon system.
We experimentally investigate resonance fluorescence from a two-level system in a novel configuration where a strong laser drives an optical Rabi oscillation while an acoustic field parametrically modulates the frequency of the two-level system. We observe emission spectra that deviate markedly from the standard Mollow triplet, including dynamical cancellation of the central peak. A doubly dressed state model incorporating hybridization among the emitter, optical field, and acoustic field captures these features. Guided by this model, we experimentally validate the condition for optimal cooling of acoustic phonons in an emitter-optomechanical system. These results reveal new regimes of strongly driven quantum nonlinear interactions.
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.
We identify discrepancies between two published predictions of the resonance fluorescence from a two-level atom driven by a strong bichromatic field [J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 8, 1163 (1991) and Phys. Rev. A 48, 3092 (1993)]. These discrepancies are shown to arise from subtleties in extracting the time-averaged resonance fluorescence from the expansions used to solve the optical Bloch equations. We construct a solution to these equations that corrects the results of the latter reference and reconciles the two predictions.
We study the transient fluorescence spectra of two-level atoms driven by a strong optical field when the atoms are initially prepared in pure dressed states of the atom-field Hamiltonian. Spectra obtained here differ qualitatively from those observed in the steady state. In the case of steady-state resonant excitation, a three-peaked spectrum symmetric about the laser frequency is obtained; with pure-dressed-state preparation, the symmetry of the spectrum about the driving field is broken---one side peak is initially enhanced and the other is initially suppressed. Furthermore, the temporal oscillations of fluorescence intensity observed in previous calculations of transient fluorescence spectra appropriate to atoms prepared in a superposition of dressed states [J. H. Eberly et al., J. Phys. B 13, 217 (1980)] are suppressed when pure-dressed-state preparation is considered.
The steady-state populations, the fluorescent intensity-intensity correlation function, and the resonance fluorescence and absorption spectra of a two-level atom bichromatically driven by a strong, coherent field and a weak, stochastic field with tunable carrier frequency and wide bandwidth are investigated analytically. Surprisingly, the population is inverted if the stochastic field is appropriately detuned from the coherent field, which is assumed resonant with the atomic transition. The resonance fluorescence spectrum still displays a three-peaked structure, but with linewidths and heights that depend upon the frequency and bandwidth of the stochastic field as well as the intensities of both fields. Asymmetric fluorescence spectra are found when the coherent field is detuned from the atomic resonance frequency. The intensity-intensity correlation function varies dramatically with the carrier frequency of the stochastic field. For appropriate choices of the parameters, the fluorescent emission of the atom is antibunched for all time. The absorption spectral features also deviate significantly from those of the monochromatically driven atom. By appropriately tuning the stochastic field, one finds that a sharp peak (absorption) or hole (gain) can occur at line center and the probe beam can be amplified at either the lower-frequency Rabi sideband or the higher-frequency sideband and the inversionless gain can be enhanced.