Photon bandwidth dependence of light-matter interaction

Abstract: We investigate the scattering of single photons by single atoms and, in particular, the dependence of the atomic dynamics and the scattering probability on the photon bandwidth. We tightly focus the incident photons onto a single trapped~$^{87}${Rb} atom and use the time-resolved transmission to characterize the interaction strength. Decreasing the bandwidth of the single photons from 6 to~2 times the atomic linewidth, we observe an increase in atomic peak excitation and photon scattering probability.