Abstract

We present analytic results for the photon statistics of a weakly driven optical cavity containing N two-level atoms. The second-order intensity correlation function g⁽²⁾() is calculated in the weak field limit for arbitrary atomic and cavity loss rates, and cavity and atomic detunings are included. The transmitted light field may exhibit photon antibunching, sub-Poissonian photon statistics, and other novel nonclassical effects.¹,² The size of these effects depends principally on the single-atom coupling constant C₁ = g²/κγ, so these effects persist with many atoms in the cavity. Our results can be interpreted via the collapse of the wave function and quantum interference of probability amplitudes. These phenomena can also be understood in terms of the self-homodyning of the driving field with squeezed polarization fluctuations.²

© 1990 Optical Society of America