Abstract

Atomic inversion revivals are the first evidence of the quantum character of the radiation, predicted by the Jaynes–Cummings model, that are experimentally measurable in cavity quantum electrodynamics.¹ We propose another test by studying the two time photon correlations between spectrally resolved components of resonance fluorescence spectrum of the coherent Jaynes–Cummings model. The spectrum raises from spontaneous emission between adjacent energy many folds, whose splitting is given by the Rabi frequency for every Fock state. This originates sideband discreteness that can be observed when the filter bandwidth is smaller than the sideband width (atom-cavity coupling). There is photon correlation only if these photons are from consecutive emissions in the dresssed lader, producing a frequency offset. Also, a photon from a sideband is more likely to be emitted before a photon from the other sideband when detuning is finite, in a fashion analogous to that studied by Aspect et al.² for free space rf. Moreover, the decay is due solely to the filter bandwidth, reflecting lack of cavity losses. These correlations could be observed in presence of mixed fields, therefore are less dependant on the coherence of the experimental cavity fields than the revivals are.

© 1990 Optical Society of America