Will a single two-level atom simultaneously scatter two photons?

TL;DR

This paper experimentally confirms that a single two-level atom can simultaneously scatter photon pairs through quantum interference, challenging the traditional view that it can only absorb and emit single photons.

Contribution

The study validates the interference-based explanation for photon anti-correlations and demonstrates spectral rejection of the coherent component to isolate simultaneously scattered photon pairs.

Findings

Spectrally rejecting the coherent fluorescence component yields photon pairs from a single atom.

Experimental verification of simultaneous two-photon scattering by a single two-level atom.

Insights into quantum light-matter interactions and potential for non-classical light generation.

Abstract

The interaction of light with a single two-level emitter is the most fundamental process in quantum optics, and is key to many quantum applications. As a distinctive feature, two photons are never detected simultaneously in the light scattered by the emitter. This is commonly interpreted by saying that a single two-level quantum emitter can only absorb and emit single photons. However, it has been theoretically proposed that the photon anti-correlations can be thought to arise from quantum interference between two possible two-photon scattering amplitudes, which one refers to as coherent and incoherent. This picture is in stark contrast to the aforementioned one, in that it assumes that the atom even has two different mechanisms at its disposal to scatter two photons at the same time. Here, we validate the interference picture by experimentally verifying the 40-year-old conjecture that, by spectrally rejecting only the coherent component of the fluorescence light of a single two-level atom, the remaining light consists of photon pairs that have been simultaneously scattered by the atom. Our results offer fundamental insights into the quantum-mechanical interaction between light and matter and open up novel approaches for the generation of highly non-classical light fields.