Abstract
We consider the one-mode quantum-statistical model of optical bistability, and show that atom-atom correlations are negligible in the good-cavity limit, in all effects that can be described by a linearized treatment. In the light of this result, we discuss the concept of ‘‘atomic cooperation’’ in quantum optical systems. In the purely absorptive case, the atomic polarization exhibits a squeezing effect which arises both in the good- and in the bad-cavity limit. This phenomenon has the same origin of the squeezing effect in resonance fluorescence.