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arXiv:1007.5259 · Physical Review A

Superradiance, subradiance, and suppressed superradiance of dipoles near a metal interface

Jérémie Choquette, Karl-Peter Marzlin, Barry C. Sanders

Published Aug 31, 2010• 39 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We theoretically characterize the collective radiative behavior of $N$ classical emitters near an interface between different dielectrics that supports the transfer of surface plasmon modes into the far-field of electromagnetic radiation. The phenomena of superradiance and surface plasmons can be combined to amplify the emitted radiation intensity $S$ as $S=A{N}^{2}{S}_{0}$ compared to a single emitter's intensity ${S}_{0}$ in free space. For a practical case study within the article $A=240$, compared to $A=1$ in free space. We furthermore demonstrate that there are collective modes for which the intensity of the emitted radiation is suppressed by 2 orders of magnitude despite their supperadiant emission characteristics. A method to control the emission characteristics of the system and to switch from super- to subradiant behavior with a suitably detuned external driving field is devised.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.82.023827

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We theoretically characterize the collective radiative behavior of NNN classical emitters near an interface between different dielectrics that supports the transfer of surface plasmon modes into the far-field of electromagnetic radiation. The phenomena of superradiance and surface plasmons can be combined to amplify the emitted radiation intensity SSS as S=AN2S0S=A{N}^{2}{S}_{0}S=AN2S0​ compared to a single emitter's intensity S0{S}_{0}S0​ in free space. For a practical case study within the article A=240A=240A=240, compared to A=1A=1A=1 in free space. We furthermore demonstrate that there are collective modes for which the intensity of the emitted radiation is suppressed by 2 orders of magnitude despite their supperadiant emission characteristics. A method to control the emission characteristics of the system and to switch from super- to subradiant behavior with a suitably detuned external driving field is devised.
Surface plasmon polaritons are charge density waves of electrons in a metal, which are coupled to an electromagnetic field at a metal-dielectric interface. The electro- magnetic field associated with surface plasmons is confined, resulting in increased field intensities near the interface. Optical emitters placed near a metal film interact strongly with the surface plasmon modes present, not only modifying the radiation rates, but also the radiation profile. These emitters may be used to store and process information, and understanding their behaviour in the presence of a lossy metal film is important in determining the advantages and limitations of using surface plasmons. In this thesis, we wish to understand how we can optically control atoms by exploring two physical phenomena: first, the influence of surface plasmons on collective effects in an ensemble of emitters. Secondly, the single photon excitation of an emitter near a metal film. In the first case, we analyze the collective radiative behaviour of multiple classical emitters near a metal film that radiatively couple to the far-field through surface plasmon modes. We demonstrate that the contributions of dipolar image charges within the metal film significantly affect the cooperative emission of nearby sources, generating sub- and super-radiant emission that can be controlled with a suitably detuned external driving field. In the second case, we determine the excitation probability of an atom near a metal film by a single photon pulse that is time reversed. Using a quantum electro- dynamic description of absorbing dielectrics, we show that non-radiative decay will limit the excitation probability to about half of the maximum that could be achieved in the absence of losses.
We develop a theory of cooperative emission of light by an ensemble of emitters, such as fluorescing molecules or semiconductor quantum dots, located near a metal nanostructure supporting surface plasmon. The primary mechanism of cooperative emission in such systems is resonant energy transfer between emitters and plasmons rather than the Dicke radiative coupling between emitters. We identify two types of plasmonic coupling between the emitters, (i) plasmon-enhanced radiative coupling and (ii) plasmon-assisted nonradiative energy transfer, the competition between them governing the structure of system eigenstates. Specifically, when emitters are removed by more than several nanometers from the metal surface, the emission is dominated by three superradiant states with the same quantum yield as a single emitter, resulting in a drastic reduction of ensemble radiated energy, while at smaller distances cooperative behavior is destroyed by nonradiative transitions. The crossover between two regimes can be observed in distance dependence of ensemble quantum efficiency. Our numerical calculations incorporating direct and plasmon-assisted interactions between the emitters indicate that they do not destroy the plasmonic Dicke effect.
We develop a theory of cooperative emission of light by an ensemble of emitters, such as fluorescing molecules or semiconductor quantum dots, located near a metal nanostructure supporting surface plasmon. The primary mechanism of cooperative emission in such systems is resonant energy transfer between emitters and plasmons rather than the Dicke radiative coupling between emitters. We identify two types of plasmonic coupling between the emitters, (i) plasmon-enhanced radiative coupling and (ii) plasmon-assisted nonradiative energy transfer, the competition between them governing the structure of system eigenstates. Specifically, when emitters are removed by more than several nm from the metal surface, the emission is dominated by three superradiant states with the same quantum yield as a single emitter, resulting in a drastic reduction of ensemble radiated energy, while at smaller distances cooperative behavior is destroyed by nonradiative transitions. The crossover between two regimes can be observed in distance dependence of ensemble quantum efficiency. Our numerical calculations incorporating direct and plasmon-assisted interactions between the emitters indicate that they do not destroy the plasmonic Dicke effect.
We demonstrate a plasmonic route to superradiance and subradiance effects over distances comparable to the operating wavelength. Superradiant and subradiant modes are excited by a collection of two-level quantum emitters inside plasmonic nanochannels. These channels can provide an effective epsilon-near-zero operation in their cut-off frequency and Fabry-P\'erot resonances at higher frequencies. The related plasmonic resonant modes are found to efficiently enhance the constructive (superradiance) or destructive (subradiance) interference between different quantum emitters located inside the nanochannels. By increasing the number of emitters located in the elongated plasmonic channel, the superradiance effect is enhanced at the epsilon-near-zero operation, leading to a strong increase in the collective spontaneous emission rate. In addition, the separation distance between neighboring emitters and their emission wavelengths can be changed to dynamically control the collective emission properties of the plasmonic system. It is envisioned that the dynamic modification between quantum superradiant and subradiant modes will find applications in quantum communication and computing systems.
An array of N closely spaced dipole coupled quantum emitters exhibits super- and subradiance with characteristic tailorable spatial radiation patterns. Optimizing the emitter geometry and distance with respect to the spatial profile of a near resonant optical cavity mode allows us to increase the ratio between light scattering into the cavity mode and free space emission by several orders of magnitude. This leads to distinct scaling of the collective coherent emitter-field coupling vs the free space decay as a function of the emitter number. In particular, for subradiant states, the effective cooperativity increases much faster than the typical linear ∝N scaling for independent emitters. This extraordinary collective enhancement is manifested both in the amplitude and the phase profile of narrow collective antiresonances appearing at the cavity output port in transmission spectroscopy.