  The interaction of a single-photon wave packet with an initially excited
two-level atom in free space is studied in semiclassical and quantum
approaches. It is shown that the final state of the field does not contain
doubly occupied modes. The process of the atom's transition to the ground state
may be accelerated, decelerated or even reversed by the incoming photon,
depending on parameters. The spectrum of emitted radiation is close to the sum
of the spectrum of the incoming single-photon wave packet and the natural line
shape, with small and complicated deviations.

Quantum Physics