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arXiv:2609.31433

Angular momentum conservation in two-atom superradiance

P. R. Berman, Zeyuan Wang, A. Kuzmich

quant-phSubmitted Sep 25, 2026• Announced Sep 28, 2026• 0 citations• Revised Oct 20, 2026 (v2)
v1 · Sep 25, 2026v2 · Oct 20, 2026
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Abstract

Two-atom superradiance is studied for atoms having a J=0 ground state and a J=1 excited state. The atoms lie on the x-axis and are excited by a σ_{+}-polarized laser pulse propagating in the z-direction. We use two, complementary approaches to obtain the final angular momentum in the field, a source-field approach and a Schrodinger picture approach. Both approaches give identical answers, but it is necessary to include terms in both calculations that, at first glance, might not be expected to contribute. We show that, owing to an exchange between a state in which atom 1 is in its m=1 excited state and atom 2 is in its ground state to one in which atom 2 is in its m=-1 excited state and atom 1 in its ground state, the final angular momentum in the field is not necessarily equal to the initial angular momentum in the two-atom system. The missing angular momentum appears as orbital angular momentum of the two atoms.

Comments
25 pages, 4 figures

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Two-atom superradiance is studied for atoms having a J=0 ground state and a J=1 excited state. The atoms lie on the x-axis and are excited by a σ_{+}-polarized laser pulse propagating in the z-direction. We use two, complementary approaches to obtain the final angular momentum in the field, a source-field approach and a Schrodinger picture approach. Both approaches give identical answers, but it is necessary to include terms in both calculations that, at first glance, might not be expected to contribute. We show that, owing to an exchange between a state in which atom 1 is in its m=1 excited state and atom 2 is in its ground state to one in which atom 2 is in its m=-1 excited state and atom 1 in its ground state, the final angular momentum in the field is not necessarily equal to the initial angular momentum in the two-atom system. The missing angular momentum appears as orbital angular momentum of the two atoms.
The radiation pattern emitted by two atoms, interacting with each other via the vacuum radiation field, has been calculated, including effects of magnetic state degeneracy for atoms with a ground state having G=0 angular momentum and an excited state having H=1 angular momentum. For an initial condition in which both atoms are inverted, the time-integrated radiation pattern is identical to that for non-interacting atoms if the atoms lie on the z-axis, but differs if the atoms lie on the x-axis. The underlying dynamics giving rise to this behavior are examined.
The two approaches to the description of superradiance polarization properties - semiclassical and quantum - are compared. It is shown that both approaches predict the same polarization of the superradiance pulse, except for the case of the initially symmetric state of the atomic system. In this latter case the superradiance is expected to be fully unpolarized in a quantum approach and fully polarized with the polarization vector varying randomly from pulse to pulse - in a semiclassical approach. So, the experimental study of polarization of superradiance from the atomic (molecular) level with zero total angular momentum (which ensures the symmetry of the atomic state regardless of the pumping process) will provide support to one of the two approaches.
We investigate the statistical properties of superradiant pulses emitted by a system of many atoms. By using a representation of the atomic density operator in terms of directed angular-momentum states (which are also known as atomic coherent states), we find that the statistical behavior of the atoms is formally equivalent to that of a harmonic oscillator subject to linear amplitude amplification and driven by Gaussian white noise. The emitted light pulses are then found to exhibit very large quantum fluctuations for atomic initial states corresponding to complete or nearly complete excitation. For all other atomic initial states the superradiant pulses show classical behavior.
We study the generation of angular momentum carrying states for a single cold particle by breaking the symmetry of a spatial adiabatic passage process in a two-dimensional system consisting of three harmonic potential wells. By following a superposition of two eigenstates of the system, a single cold particle is completely transferred to the degenerate first excited states of the final trap, which are resonantly coupled via tunneling to the ground states of the initial and middle traps. Depending on the total time of the process, angular momentum is generated in the final trap, with values that oscillate between $\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}\ensuremath{\hbar}$. This process is discussed in terms of the asymptotic eigenstates of the individual wells and the results are checked by simulations of the full two-dimensional Schr\"odinger equation.
Abstract A century ago Einstein introduced the notion of the linear momentum of a photon, h k, and analyzed its transfer to an atom (and back) in the establishment of thermodynamic equilibrium between black-body radiation and matter. In addition to a linear momentum, the photon also possesses an angular momentum, ħ, directed parallel (or antiparallel) to its propagation direction (the OZ axis in Fig. 4.1), depending on its polarization direction (left- or right-handed). This angular momentum is due to the spin of the photon, equal to 1. Half a century later, Kastler (1950) considered the use of the transfer of the angular momentum of a polarized photon to the angular momentum of an atom as a method of optical orientation of atoms. In essence, this was the first method to control atomic motion by means of low-intensity light, developed even before the advent of the laser; it which found widespread application in investigating and then using spin polarization effects in atomic physics. But even after lasers had made their appearance, the method of optical orientation of atoms (or pumping of certain magnetic sublevels in atoms) proved very important, specifically in the laser cooling of atoms (Chapter 5).
The Wigner representation of angular-momentum orientation in the classical limit on $J\ensuremath{\gg}1$ has been used to derive an equation of angular-momentum motion in the case of a closed two-level system interacting with an arbitrary polarized radiation. This equation enables us to carry out a theoretical analysis of angular-momentum motion and consider final states of the quantum system for all types of dipole transitions. We have found that in the case of a zero magnetic field in the final state of the system with $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{J}J$ or $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{J}J+1$ optical transition, the angular momentum is directed along or opposite to the wave vector of the radiation depending on the sign of the polarization ellipsity, while for a linear polarization the angular momentum is isotropically distributed on the plane orthogonal to the polarization vector. For the $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{J}J\ensuremath{-}1$ transition two directions of angular momentum are possible in the final state. These directions are determined by the ellipsity of polarization. The spatial size of the final distribution of the angular momentum has been defined by the quantum uncertainty, 1/J,1/\sqrt{J},1/J​, of the angular-momentum orientation. In the case of the $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{J}J\ensuremath{-}1$ or $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{J}J,$ transition particles come into ``dark'' states while for the $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{J}J+1$ transition they occupy the ``brightest'' state. In the presence of a nonzero magnetic field, particles with $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{J}J$ transition have in the final state only one angular-momentum orientation, i.e., along or opposite to the direction of the magnetic field depending on the polarization ellipsity sign. For the $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{J}J+1$ transition both directions are possible, i.e., along and opposite to the magnetic field. In the case of the $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{J}J\ensuremath{-}1$ transition the directions of the angular momentum form a cone around the magnetic field.