Single-Atom Laser Spectroscopy. Looking for Dark Periods in Fluorescence Light
Claude N. Cohen-Tannoudji, Jean Dalibard · Europhysics Letters (EPL) · 1986
The random sequence of pulses given by a photodetector recording the fluorescence light emitted by a single atom can exhibit periods of darkness if two transitions, one weak and one strong, are simultaneously driven (Dehmelt's electron shelving scheme). We introduce new statistical functions for characterizing these periods of darkness (average length, repetition rate) and we show how to extract spectroscopic information from this type of signals.