© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

Terms Privacy Legal Notice

arXiv:2608.15329

Transitions to super-radiance in ensembles of incoherently pumped emitters

Laszlo Rassaert, Tommaso Roscilde

quant-phcond-mat.stat-mechphysics.opticsSubmitted Aug 15, 2026• Announced Aug 18, 2026• 0 citations• Revised Aug 26, 2026 (v2)

v1 · Aug 15, 2026 v2 · Aug 26, 2026

Abstract

Super-radiance is a striking phenomenon resulting from the collective interaction of emitters with light, and it is fundamentally related to the appearance of long-range correlations between the dipole moments of the emitters. As such, it represents a distinct phase of dissipative many-body systems compared to the case of independent emitters, similarly to how ferromagnetism stands out in magnetic materials in contrast to paramagnetism. In this work we address the conditions under which the transition to super-radiance can occur in ensembles of emitters subject to dephasing and individual decay -- a situation which is particularly relevant to the case of emitters in the solid state. The simplifying assumption of an ensemble of permutationally invariant emitters allows for the efficient solution of both the dissipative dynamics after a pulsed excitation, as well as of the steady state under incoherent pumping. This exact solution allows us to benchmark a truncated cumulant expansion approach, which can give predictions for arbitrarily big system sizes. We show that super-radiance is fundamentally robust to sizable dephasing and non-radiative decay rates, both under a pulsed excitation, as well as under continuous pumping. This robustness is the result of the collective acceleration effect of super-radiant emission with respect to the individual coupling to a local environment. We establish the universal critical scaling laws at the transition between normal radiance and super-radiance; and we show that, in the super-radiant phase, significant finite-size crossovers can be observed before reaching the asymptotic scaling regime. Our results pave the way for future experiments to provide a quantitative characterization of the scaling properties of super-radiance, seen as a distinct non-equilibrium many-body phase in ensembles of incoherently pumped emitters.

Comments: 40 pages, 22 figures

Related papers

Threshold behavior of super-radiance under continuous pumping

C. T. Lee

Recognizing that the super-radiance emission rate is proportional to the product of the number of cooperative atoms in the upper level and that in the lower level, we propose simple deterministic and stochastic equations to describe the evolution of the super-radiant atomic system pumped continuously at a constant rate. The steady-state solutions of these equations display threshold behavior very similar to the laser. This provides yet another example of nonequilibrium phase transition of the second order.

Applied Physics Letters•Feb 15, 1983•0 citations

Cooperativity of a few quantum emitters in a single-mode cavity

Eduardo Mascarenhas, Dario Gerace, Marcelo França Santos +1 more

We theoretically investigate the emission properties of a single-mode cavity coupled to a mesoscopic number of incoherently pumped quantum emitters. We propose an operational measure for the medium cooperativity, valid both in the bad- and in the good-cavity regimes. We show that the opposite regimes of subradiance and super-radiance correspond to negative and positive cooperativity, respectively. The lasing regime is shown to be characterized by non-negative cooperativity. In the bad-cavity regime we show that the cooperativity defines the transitions from subradiance to super-radiance. In the good-cavity regime it helps to define the lasing threshold, also providing distinguishable signatures indicating the lasing regime. Increasing the quality factor of the cavity mode induces a crossover from the solely super-radiant to the lasing regime. Furthermore, we verify that lasing is manifested in a wide range of positive cooperative behavior, showing that stimulated emission and super-radiance can coexist. The robustness of the cooperativity is studied with respect to experimental imperfections, such as inhomogeneous broadening and pure dephasing.

arXiv:1310.1734•Physical Review A•Dec 11, 2013•28 citations

From Superradiance to Superabsorption: An Exact Treatment of Non-Markovian Cooperative Radiation

Ignacio González, Ángel Rivas

We investigate the emergence of cooperative radiation phenomena in ensembles of two-level atoms coupled to a lossy resonant cavity beyond the Markovian and mean-field approximations. By deriving a complete analytical solution for the two-emitter case and employing a numerically exact method for larger ensembles, we characterize the full transition from Markovian to non-Markovian collective dynamics for systems of up to $10^3$ emitters. Our results reveal three distinct regimes: a Markovian phase exhibiting the standard superradiant burst, a non-Markovian phase featuring spontaneous superabsorption of the emitted field, and a critical regime marked by pulsed collective emission. We show that the critical spectral width separating these behaviors increases monotonically with the number of emitters, demonstrating that environmental memory effects can be enhanced by cooperativity. Finally, we find that the superradiant scaling of the peak intensity progressively degrades with increasing system size, approaching a subquadratic law in the limit of a perfect cavity. In this regime, spontaneous superabsorption emerges as a distinct manifestation of non-Markovian cooperativity.

quant-pharXiv:2601.05989•Quantum•Jan 12, 2026•0 citations

Benchmarking the Cumulant Expansion Method Using Dicke Superradiance

Martin Fasser, Claudiu Genes, Helmut Ritsch +1 more

Collective superradiant decay of a tightly packed inverted quantum emitter ensemble is among the most intensely studied phenomena in quantum optics. Since the seminal work of Dicke more than half a century ago, a plethora of theoretical calculations in quantum many-body physics have followed. Widespread experimental efforts range from the microwave to the X-ray regime. Nevertheless, accurate calculations of the time dynamics of the superradiant emission pulse still remain a challenging task requiring approximate methods for large ensembles. Here, we benchmark the cumulant expansion method for describing collective superradiant decay against a newly found exact solution. The application of two variants of the cumulant expansion exhibits reliable convergence of time and magnitude of the maximum emission power with increasing truncation order. The long-term population evolution is only correctly captured for low emitter numbers, where an individual spin-based cumulant expansion proves more reliable than the collective spin-based variant. Surprisingly, odd orders show unphysical behavior. At sufficiently high spin numbers, both chosen cumulant methods agree, but still fail to reliably converge to the numerically exact result. Generally, on longer time scales the expansions substantially overestimate the remaining population. While numerically fast and efficient, cumulant expansion methods need to be treated with sufficient caution when used for long-time evolution or reliably finding steady states.

Photonics•Oct 10, 2025•0 citations

Benchmarking the Cumulant Expansion Method using Dicke Superradiance

Helmut Ritsch, Raphael Holzinger

Collective superradiant decay of a tightly packed inverted quantum emitter ensemble is among the most intensely studied phenomena in quantum optics. Since the seminal work of Dicke more than half a century ago, a plethora of theoretical calculations in quantum many-body physics have followed. Widespread experimental efforts range from the microwave to the X-ray regime. Nevertheless, accurate calculations of the time dynamics of the superradiant emission pulse still remain a challenging task needing approximate methods for large ensembles. Here, we benchmark the cumulant expansion method for describing collective superradiant decay against a new, recently found exact solution. Applying two variants of the cumulant expansion exhibits reliable convergence of time and magnitude of the maximum emission power with increasing truncation order. The longterm population evolution is only correctly captured for low emitter numbers, where an individual spin-based cumulant expansion proves more reliable than the collective spin-based variant. Surprisingly, odd orders show even qualitatively nonphysical behavior. At sufficiently high spin numbers, both chosen cumulant methods agree, but still fail to reliably converge to the numerically exact result. Generally, at a longer time scale, the expansions substantially overestimate the remaining population. While numerically fast and efficient, cumulant expansion methods need to be treated with sufficient caution when applied for long-time evolution or reliably finding steady states.

•Sep 15, 2025•0 citations

Universality of Dicke superradiance in arrays of quantum emitters

Stuart J. Masson, Ana Asenjo-Garcı́a

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.

arXiv:2106.02042•Nature Communications•Apr 27, 2022•166 citations

Super-radiance is a striking phenomenon resulting from the collective interaction of emitters with light, and it is fundamentally related to the appearance of long-range correlations between the dipole moments of the emitters. As such, it represents a distinct phase of dissipative many-body systems compared to the case of independent emitters, similarly to how ferromagnetism stands out in magnetic materials in contrast to paramagnetism. In this work we address the conditions under which the transition to super-radiance can occur in ensembles of emitters subject to dephasing and individual decay -- a situation which is particularly relevant to the case of emitters in the solid state. The simplifying assumption of an ensemble of permutationally invariant emitters allows for the efficient solution of both the dissipative dynamics after a pulsed excitation, as well as of the steady state under incoherent pumping. This exact solution allows us to benchmark a truncated cumulant expansion approach, which can give predictions for arbitrarily big system sizes. We show that super-radiance is fundamentally robust to sizable dephasing and non-radiative decay rates, both under a pulsed excitation, as well as under continuous pumping. This robustness is the result of the collective acceleration effect of super-radiant emission with respect to the individual coupling to a local environment. We establish the universal critical scaling laws at the transition between normal radiance and super-radiance; and we show that, in the super-radiant phase, significant finite-size crossovers can be observed before reaching the asymptotic scaling regime. Our results pave the way for future experiments to provide a quantitative characterization of the scaling properties of super-radiance, seen as a distinct non-equilibrium many-body phase in ensembles of incoherently pumped emitters.

Recognizing that the super-radiance emission rate is proportional to the product of the number of cooperative atoms in the upper level and that in the lower level, we propose simple deterministic and stochastic equations to describe the evolution of the super-radiant atomic system pumped continuously at a constant rate. The steady-state solutions of these equations display threshold behavior very similar to the laser. This provides yet another example of nonequilibrium phase transition of the second order.

We theoretically investigate the emission properties of a single-mode cavity coupled to a mesoscopic number of incoherently pumped quantum emitters. We propose an operational measure for the medium cooperativity, valid both in the bad- and in the good-cavity regimes. We show that the opposite regimes of subradiance and super-radiance correspond to negative and positive cooperativity, respectively. The lasing regime is shown to be characterized by non-negative cooperativity. In the bad-cavity regime we show that the cooperativity defines the transitions from subradiance to super-radiance. In the good-cavity regime it helps to define the lasing threshold, also providing distinguishable signatures indicating the lasing regime. Increasing the quality factor of the cavity mode induces a crossover from the solely super-radiant to the lasing regime. Furthermore, we verify that lasing is manifested in a wide range of positive cooperative behavior, showing that stimulated emission and super-radiance can coexist. The robustness of the cooperativity is studied with respect to experimental imperfections, such as inhomogeneous broadening and pure dephasing.

We investigate the emergence of cooperative radiation phenomena in ensembles of two-level atoms coupled to a lossy resonant cavity beyond the Markovian and mean-field approximations. By deriving a complete analytical solution for the two-emitter case and employing a numerically exact method for larger ensembles, we characterize the full transition from Markovian to non-Markovian collective dynamics for systems of up to

10^3

emitters. Our results reveal three distinct regimes: a Markovian phase exhibiting the standard superradiant burst, a non-Markovian phase featuring spontaneous superabsorption of the emitted field, and a critical regime marked by pulsed collective emission. We show that the critical spectral width separating these behaviors increases monotonically with the number of emitters, demonstrating that environmental memory effects can be enhanced by cooperativity. Finally, we find that the superradiant scaling of the peak intensity progressively degrades with increasing system size, approaching a subquadratic law in the limit of a perfect cavity. In this regime, spontaneous superabsorption emerges as a distinct manifestation of non-Markovian cooperativity.

Collective superradiant decay of a tightly packed inverted quantum emitter ensemble is among the most intensely studied phenomena in quantum optics. Since the seminal work of Dicke more than half a century ago, a plethora of theoretical calculations in quantum many-body physics have followed. Widespread experimental efforts range from the microwave to the X-ray regime. Nevertheless, accurate calculations of the time dynamics of the superradiant emission pulse still remain a challenging task requiring approximate methods for large ensembles. Here, we benchmark the cumulant expansion method for describing collective superradiant decay against a newly found exact solution. The application of two variants of the cumulant expansion exhibits reliable convergence of time and magnitude of the maximum emission power with increasing truncation order. The long-term population evolution is only correctly captured for low emitter numbers, where an individual spin-based cumulant expansion proves more reliable than the collective spin-based variant. Surprisingly, odd orders show unphysical behavior. At sufficiently high spin numbers, both chosen cumulant methods agree, but still fail to reliably converge to the numerically exact result. Generally, on longer time scales the expansions substantially overestimate the remaining population. While numerically fast and efficient, cumulant expansion methods need to be treated with sufficient caution when used for long-time evolution or reliably finding steady states.

Collective superradiant decay of a tightly packed inverted quantum emitter ensemble is among the most intensely studied phenomena in quantum optics. Since the seminal work of Dicke more than half a century ago, a plethora of theoretical calculations in quantum many-body physics have followed. Widespread experimental efforts range from the microwave to the X-ray regime. Nevertheless, accurate calculations of the time dynamics of the superradiant emission pulse still remain a challenging task needing approximate methods for large ensembles. Here, we benchmark the cumulant expansion method for describing collective superradiant decay against a new, recently found exact solution. Applying two variants of the cumulant expansion exhibits reliable convergence of time and magnitude of the maximum emission power with increasing truncation order. The longterm population evolution is only correctly captured for low emitter numbers, where an individual spin-based cumulant expansion proves more reliable than the collective spin-based variant. Surprisingly, odd orders show even qualitatively nonphysical behavior. At sufficiently high spin numbers, both chosen cumulant methods agree, but still fail to reliably converge to the numerically exact result. Generally, at a longer time scale, the expansions substantially overestimate the remaining population. While numerically fast and efficient, cumulant expansion methods need to be treated with sufficient caution when applied for long-time evolution or reliably finding steady states.

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.