Test of Neoclassical Radiation Theory: Incoherent Resonance Fluorescence from a Coherently Excited State

Abstract

The resonance-fluorescence experiment described in the preceeding paper and found to be consistent with quantum electrodynamics is analyzed using the neoclassical theory (NCT) of radiation, i.e., the electromagnetic field is not quantized. We have not found a value of the dynamic shift for which the NCT computer simulation is consistent with the data. NCT predicts an increased radiative lifetime as appreciable excitation is achieved; the observed decay curves were simple exponentials with characteristic times independent of the fractional excitation. The observed oscillatory dependence of the integrated fluorescence upon input pulse area has not been reproduced by a NCT simulation either. Objections raised against this disproof of NCT are answered.