The resonance fluorescence cascade of a laser-excited two-level atom

TL;DR

This paper reviews the process of resonance fluorescence in a laser-excited two-level atom, focusing on the photon emission cascade and its statistical properties, including delay distributions and correlations.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of the resonance fluorescence cascade, emphasizing the statistical characterization of photon emission delays and correlations in a two-level atom.

Findings

Delay distribution analysis reveals the randomness of photon emission times.

Photon correlation functions are derived from delay distributions.

The process is characterized as inherently stochastic with specific statistical properties.

Abstract

The cascade of fluorescence photons by a two-level atom excited by coherent laser light is reviewed. The discussion emphasizes the random nature of resonance fluorescence and uses the distribution of delays between two successively emitted photons as the primary characterization of the process. Other characterizations such as photon counting and photon correlation are deduced.