Two-Level Atoms in an Intense Monochromatic Field: A Review of Recent Experimental Investigations

Abstract

The effect of an intense monochromatic field on the behavior of a two-level atom with natural damping has recently been studied experimentally using stable tunable lasers and atomic beams. A number of researchers have measured the spectrum of the emission, and more recently, the absorption of the strongly driven atoms for both on-resonance and off-resonance excitation. In addition, the energy levels of the atoms have been carefully probed to examine in some detail, the ac Stark effect induced by a strong resonant and nearly resonant field. The paper will cover a brief review of the measurements that have been performed so far by the various groups, a comparison of the experimental results with theoretical predictions, as well as a discussion of the experimental problems in performing such measurements.

This paper was presented at a joint session of the 4’th Rochester Conference on Coherence and Quantum Optics and of the International Conference on Multiphoton Processes. A fuller account is published in Multiphoton Processes, ed. J.H. Eberly and P. Lambropoulos (John Wiley, New York, 1978) p. 145.