Transition from Antibunching to Bunching in Cavity QED

The photon statistics of the light emitted from an atomic ensemble into a single field mode of an optical cavity is investigated as a function of the number of atoms. The light is produced in a Raman transition driven by a pump laser and the cavity vacuum, and a recycling laser is employed to repeat this process continuously. For weak driving, a smooth transition from antibunching to bunching is found for about one intracavity atom. Remarkably, the bunching peak develops within the antibunching dip. The observed behavior is well explained by a model describing an ensemble of independent emitters.