Effect of two-level atom on photon packet polarization

A packet of photons interacting with a two-level atom is considered. It is shown that if the atomic dipole momentum transition vector is not parallel to the photon polarization, the linear photon polarization changes into an elliptical one. The upper-bound estimation for the ratio of short and long axes of the ellipse gives 0.2. The phenomenon is of a quantum origin and caused by the action of the atom on the photon packet.