Abstract
We detect the radiatively driven electric quadrupole transition to the metastable state in a single, laser-cooled Hg II ion by monitoring the abrupt cessation of the fluorescence signal from the laser-excited first resonance line. When the ion "jumps" back from the metastable state to the ground state, the resonance fluorescence signal immediately returns. The statistical properties of the quantum jumps are investigated; for example, photon antibunching in the emission from the state is observed with 100% efficiency.
- Received 23 June 1986
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.57.1699
©1986 American Physical Society