We study the photon correlations between the output of two spectral filters set within the fluorescence triplet of a two-state atom. The time uncertainty arising from the spectral resolution of the filters implies a possible interference between opposite orders of emission, contributing to the same detection order. Furthermore, the fluorescent emission is a quantum-mechanical process, and successive emissions in different components do not commute. The correlation functions are affected both by the memory time of the filters and by the noncommutativity of successive emissions. When the two filter bandwidths are larger than the widths of the components, this only modifies the short-time behavior of the correlation functions between two photons from different spectral components. For narrow filters, the entire correlation function is dominated by memory-time effects. Positive (bunching) correlations arise when the two filters are set at the same frequency, and also when they are positioned symmetrically at opposite sides of the driving frequency.

• Received 24 August 1992

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.47.510