MACROSCOPIC QUANTUM JUMPS FROM A 2-ATOM SYSTEM

We analyze the macroscopic quantum jumps (sudden interruptions in the fluorescence on a macroscopic time scale) that are produced when a pair of two-level atoms separated by a distance d is irradiated by a strong laser having wavelength 0, with 0d. Included in the analysis is the dipole-dipole coupling of the atoms, the ac Stark effect, and the role played by a term that is present in the atom-laser field interaction Hamiltonian when kd 0 (k is the wave vector of the laser field and d is the vector connecting the two atoms). Our treatment is based on frequency-resolved delay functions, an extension of a concept developed by Reynaud, Dalibard, and Cohen-Tannoudji [IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 24, 1395 (1988)], which is shown to be useful to study frequency-resolved photon statistics. As examples, we study the statistics of the fluorescence produced by the two-atom system as well as those in the components of the fluorescent triplet produced by a single two-level atom. © 1990 The American Physical Society.