  A microscopic system under continuous observation exhibits at random times
sudden jumps between its states. The detection of this essential quantum
feature requires a quantum non-demolition (QND) measurement repeated many times
during the system evolution. Quantum jumps of trapped massive particles
(electrons, ions or molecules) have been observed, which is not the case of the
jumps of light quanta. Usual photodetectors absorb light and are thus unable to
detect the same photon twice. They must be replaced by a transparent counter
'seeing' photons without destroying them3. Moreover, the light has to be stored
over a duration much longer than the QND detection time. We have fulfilled
these challenging conditions and observed photon number quantum jumps.
Microwave photons are stored in a superconducting cavity for times in the
second range. They are repeatedly probed by a stream of non-absorbing atoms. An
atom interferometer measures the atomic dipole phase shift induced by the
non-resonant cavity field, so that the final atom state reveals directly the
presence of a single photon in the cavity. Sequences of hundreds of atoms
highly correlated in the same state, are interrupted by sudden
state-switchings. These telegraphic signals record, for the first time, the
birth, life and death of individual photons. Applying a similar QND procedure
to mesoscopic fields with tens of photons opens new perspectives for the
exploration of the quantum to classical boundary.
