Power-broadening-free correlation spectroscopy in cold atoms

We report a detailed investigation on the properties of intensity correlation spectra for laser beams interacting with cold atoms under the condition of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). We describe the transition of their intensity fluctuations from correlation to anticorrelation as the mean intensity of the fields increases. Such a transition occurs for laser frequencies around the EIT resonance, which is characterized by a correlation peak. The transition point between correlation and anticorrelation is independent of power broadening and provides directly the ground-state coherence time. We introduce a method to extract in real time the correlation spectra of the system. The experiments were done in two distinct magneto-optical traps, one for cesium and the other for rubidium atoms, employing different detection schemes. A simplified theory is introduced assuming three-level atoms in $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$ configuration interacting with a laser with stochastic phase fluctuations, providing a good agreement with the experimental observations.