Resonance fluorescence spectra of three-level atoms in a squeezed vacuum

The fluorescence field from one of the two allowed transitions in a three-level atom can sense squeezed fluctuations of a vacuum field coupled to the other transition. We examine the fluorescence spectra of strongly driven three-level atoms in Lambda, V, and cascade configurations in which one of the two one-photon transitions is coupled to a finite-bandwidth squeezed vacuum field, when the bandwidth is much smaller than the difference in the atomic transition frequencies, though much larger than atomic decay rates and Rabi frequencies of the driving fields. The driving fields are on one-photon resonance, and the squeezed vacuum field is generated by a degenerate parameter oscillator. Details are only given for the Lambda configuration. The extension to the V and cascade configurations is straightforward. We find that in all configurations the fluorescence spectra of the transition not coupled to the squeezed vacuum field are composed of five lines, one central and two pairs of sidebands, with intensities and widths strongly influenced by the squeezed vacuum field. However, only the central component and the outer sidebands exhibit a dependence on the squeezing phase. We also examine the fluorescence spectrum for the cascade configuration with a squeezed vacuum field on resonance with the two-photon transition between the ground and the most excited states and now generated by a nondegenerate parametric oscillator. In this case, where the squeezed vacuum field can be made coupled to both transitions, all spectral lines depend on the squeezing phase. The spectral features are explained in terms of the dressed-atom model of the system. We show that the coherent mixing of the atomic states by the strong driving fields modifies transition rates between the dressed states, which results in the selective phase dependence of the spectral features.