Abstract
We consider an optical cavity containing a single two-level atom driven on resonance by an external laser source.1 We focus on the limit of weak excitation where the dynamic response of this system is governed by just three parameters: the atom-field coupling constant g, spontaneous emission rate γ for the atom, and cavity decay rate κ. The statistics of the transmitted light are analyzed as a function of g, γ, and κ, in terms of the second-order correlation function g(2)(τ), and the quadrature variances measured in a homodyne detection scheme. Squeezing and photon antibunching exist over a wide range of parameters. For γ ~ κ, the system can exhibit an oscillatory response, even when the mean intracavity photon number is much less than unity.2 The oscillations can be understood in terms of the coupling between the free atom-field eigenstates |0,−>, |0,+>, and |1,−>. The oscillation frequency is determined by the energy level splitting produced between the degenerate one-quantum states |0,+> and |1,−> by the atom-field interaction. The second-order correlation function can exhibit a novel nonclassical effect, where, for g(2)(0) ≠ 0, at some finite delay τ0, the correlation function dips exactly to zero—g(2)(τ0) = 0.
© 1986 Optical Society of America
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