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arXiv:2202.05197 · Physical Review A

Large- N limit of Dicke superradiance

Daniel Malz, Rahul Trivedi, J. I. Cirac

Published Jul 22, 2022• 14 citations
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Abstract

We investigate the thermodynamic limit of Dicke superradiance. We find an expression for the system's density matrix that we can prove is exact in the limit of large atom numbers $N$. This is in contrast to previously known solutions whose accuracy has only been established numerically and that are valid only for a range of times. We also introduce an asymptotically exact solution when the system is subject to additional incoherent decay of excitations as this is a common occurrence in experiments.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.106.013716

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We investigate the thermodynamic limit of Dicke superradiance. We find an expression for the system's density matrix that we can prove is exact in the limit of large atom numbers NNN. This is in contrast to previously known solutions whose accuracy has only been established numerically and that are valid only for a range of times. We also introduce an asymptotically exact solution when the system is subject to additional incoherent decay of excitations as this is a common occurrence in experiments.
We show that dephasing of individual atoms destroys the superradiance transition of the Dicke model, but that adding individual decay toward the spin down state can restore this transition. To demonstrate this, we present a method to give an exact solution for the N atom problem with individual dephasing which scales polynomially with N. By comparing finite size scaling of our exact solution to a cumulant expansion, we confirm the destruction and restoration of the superradiance transition hold in the thermodynamic limit.
The transition to the super-radiant regime in the Dicke model of two-level atoms interacting with a one-mode radiation field has been argued to be impossible for many years. Recently, however, experimental results show that this transition is possible in an open system [1, 2]. Here we exhibit the power of the use of coherent states with restored symmetry to describe the superradiant regime of the Dicke Hamiltonian. These symmetry-adapted states allow for an analytic description of both the ground and first excited states. From these, analytical expressions for all expectation values of interest are obtained, valid for any number of atoms. All these results are exact in the thermodynamic limit.
We study the numerical solutions of the Dicke Hamiltonian, which describes a system of many two level atoms interacting with a monochromatic radiation field into a cavity. The Dicke model is an example of a quantum collective behavior which shows superradiant quantum phase transitions in the thermodynamic limit. Results obtained employing two different bases are compared. Both of them use the pseudospin basis to describe the atomic states. For the photon states we use in one case Fock states, while in the other case we use a basis built over a particular coherent state, associated to each atomic state. It is shown that, when the number of atoms increases, the description of the ground state of the system in the superradiant phase requires an equivalent number of photons to be included. This imposes a strong limit to the states that can be calculated using Fock states, while the dimensionality needed to obtain convergent results in the other basis decreases when the atomic number increases, allowing calculations that are very difficult in the Fock basis. Naturally, it reduces also the computing time, economizing computing resources. We show results for the energy, the photon number and the number of excited atoms, for the ground and the first excited state.
We present several analytical approaches to the Dicke superradiance problem, which involves determining the time evolution of the density operator for an initially inverted ensemble of NNN identical two-level systems undergoing collective spontaneous emission. This serves as one of the simplest cases of open quantum system dynamics that allows for a fully analytical solution. We explore multiple methods to tackle this problem, yielding a solution valid for any time and any number of spins. These approaches range from solving coupled rate equations and identifying exceptional points in non-Hermitian evolution to employing combinatorial and probabilistic techniques, as well as utilizing a quantum jump unraveling of the master equation. The analytical solution is expressed as a residue sum obtained from a contour integral in the complex plane, suggesting the possibility of fully analytical solutions for a broader class of open quantum system dynamics problems.
Dicke superradiance is an example of emergence of macroscopic quantum coherence via correlated dissipation. Starting from an initially incoherent state, a collection of excited atoms synchronizes as they decay, generating a macroscopic dipole moment and emitting a short and intense pulse of light. While well understood in cavities, superradiance remains an open problem in extended systems due to the exponential growth of complexity with atom number. Here we show that Dicke superradiance is a universal phenomenon in ordered arrays. We present a theoretical framework - which circumvents the exponential complexity of the problem - that allows us to predict the critical distance beyond which Dicke superradiance disappears. This critical distance is highly dependent on the dimensionality and atom number. Our predictions can be tested in state of the art experiments with arrays of neutral atoms, molecules, and solid-state emitters and pave the way towards understanding the role of many-body decay in quantum simulation, metrology, and lasing.
Dicke superradiance describes an ensemble of N permutationally invariant two-level systems collectively emitting radiation with a peak radiated intensity scaling as N 2 . Individual Dicke states are typically entangled. However, the density matrix during superradiant decay is a mixture of such states, raising the subtle question of whether the total state is entangled or separable. We resolve this by showing analytically that for any N , starting from the fully excited state, the collective decay preserves separability for all times. This answers a longstanding question on the role of entanglement in Dicke superradiance and underscores that, despite collective dissipation, separable states remain separable under these dynamics.