The cooperative spontaneous emission from three identical, initially excited two-level atoms separated by distances much smaller than the resonance wavelength is studied taking into account the dipole-dipole near-field interaction. Approximate expressions are obtained for the time evolution of the atomic system, the radiated intensity and the one-time intensity correlation function. As a new result the authors find that the near-field interaction may lead to the occurrence of beats in the intensity. Moreover, the destructive effect of the near-field interaction on the coherence properties of the emitted radiation is discussed.
Abstract Using Lehmberg's master equation and taking into account dipole‐dipole near‐field interaction the time‐dependent intensity pattern, intensity – and angular correlations of the cooperative spontaneous radiation from an initially fully excited system of three identical two‐level atoms are calculated. The intensity pattern developes lobes in different directions at different times in such a way that contrary to the two‐atom system the spatial distribution of the total number of the emitted photons differs from that of the single‐atom radiation pattern. In particular three atoms placed in proper distances on a straight line emit preferentially their energy along this line. At the beginning of the emission process the probability to find two photons simultaneously in the same (or geometrical equivalent) direction is always highest but in the course of time, contrary to the two‐atom case, it may well happen that the probability of finding two photons in quite different directions becomes more favoured.