  Vacuum-stimulated Raman scattering in strongly coupled atom-cavity systems
allows one to generate free-running single photon pulses on demand. Most
properties of the emitted photons are well defined, provided spontaneous
emission processes do not contribute. Therefore, electronic excitation of the
atom must not occur, which is assured for a system adiabatically following a
dark state during the photon-generation process. We experimentally investigate
the conditions that must be met for adiabatic following in a time-of-flight
driven system, with atoms passing through a cavity and a pump beam oriented
transverse to the cavity axis. From our results, we infer the optimal intensity
and relative pump-beam position with respect to the cavity axis.
