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Contemporary Physics

Superradiance in atoms and molecules

J. C. MacGillivray, Michael S. Feld

Published May 1, 1981• 20 citations
Publisher

Abstract

This article reviews the present status of superradiance in atoms and molecules. The introductory section describes the important physical properties of superradiant emission, and presents the important experimental features. A simple theoretical formulation, based on the coupled Maxwell-Schrödinger equations, is described. Simple expressions for observable output parameters are given, valid in experimentally relevant regimes. These results are compared with superradiance experiments performed at a wide range of wavelengths in numerous laboratories since 1973. While the principal features of superradiance are generally agreed upon, details of the initiation of the radiation process and of the observed ringing are still under study.

DOI
10.1080/00107518108231533

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This article reviews the present status of superradiance in atoms and molecules. The introductory section describes the important physical properties of superradiant emission, and presents the important experimental features. A simple theoretical formulation, based on the coupled Maxwell-Schrödinger equations, is described. Simple expressions for observable output parameters are given, valid in experimentally relevant regimes. These results are compared with superradiance experiments performed at a wide range of wavelengths in numerous laboratories since 1973. While the principal features of superradiance are generally agreed upon, details of the initiation of the radiation process and of the observed ringing are still under study.
The present state of theoretical and experimental research on collective spontaneous emission (superradiance) in a system of radiators (atoms, molecules, or nuclei) is reviewed. The distinction between superradiance and the amplification of spontaneous emission is discussed. There is also a discussion of conditions under which the effect can be observed and of various theoretical methods for describing superradiance: the quantum single-mode and multimode models and the semiclassical approach. Theoretical papers on superradiance in systems with dimensions smaller than the wavelength of the radiation and also in extended systems are reviewed. It is shown that superradiance may occur in weakly amplifying media. A situation in which the superradiance is oscillatory is described. The possible use of superradiance to generate coherent emission in the x-ray and ? ranges is discussed. The superradiance accompanying Raman scattering of light in atomic and molecular media is studied. The theoretical results are compared with experimental observations of superradiance in the optical range. In an appendix, the nature of the phase transition in a system of radiators interacting through an electromagnetic field is discussed.
In the theoretical stuqy of superradiance, the atoms or molecules are generally considered as two-level systems. However in many experimental situations, this simple assumption is not valid. It is the case, for example, in all experiments exhibiting superradiant beats [1-3]. Moreover, these beats are sometimes due to a specific property of superradiance : the existence of interferences between different atoms. Other examples of multilevel superradiance are encountered each time one observes several superradiant transitions sharing a common level [3,4]. In addition, superradiance is generally observed between degenerate levels, and it has been alreaqy shown experimentally that the level-degeneracy influences the properties of the superradiant light, in particular its polarization characteristics [5].
The collective behavior of quantum particles is one of the most intriguing phenomena in quantum optics. In particular, superradiance refers to spontaneous collective emissions from a group of quantum particles behaving collectively as a whole due to the buildup of macroscopic quantum coherence. An important question is whether macroscopic quantum coherence is constructed by means of a quantum synchronization (i.e., a quantum analog of classical synchronization) or not. The purpose of this article is to draw attention to this question from the author’s perspective. A few selected studies relevant to synchronized atoms and molecules are discussed. The author concludes that collective behaviors of quantum particles may be formulated as quantum synchronizations, but extensive studies are still needed to confirm this hypothesis.
Superradiance in an ensemble of atoms leads to the collective enhancement of radiation in a particular mode shared by the atoms in their spontaneous decay from an excited state. The quantum aspects of this phenomenon are highlighted when such collective enhancement is observed in the emission of a single quantum of light. Here we report a further step in exploring experimentally the nonclassical features of superradiance by implementing the process not only with single excitations, but also in a two-excitation state. Particularly, we measure and theoretically model the wave packets corresponding to superradiance in both the single-photon and two-photon regimes. Such progress opens the way to the study and future control of the interaction of nonclassical light modes with collective quantum memories at higher photon numbers.
This paper presents a semiclassical treatment of the evolution of an initially inverted system into a superradiant state in an extended, optically thick medium. In this process spontaneous emission and background thermal radiation initiate the collective radiative decay and produce a superradiant output pulse of intensity proportional to the square of the number of radiators. The treatment is based on the coupled Maxwell-Schr\"odinger equations, modified to include a fluctuating polarization source properly constructed to account for the effects of spontaneous emission. Computer results show that for a high-gain system only two parameters significantly influence the evolution process: TR{T}_{R}TR​, the characteristic radiation damping time of the collective system; and ${\ensuremath{\theta}}_{0}$, a function of the conditions which initiate the superradiant process. In this limit one obtains a normalized emission curve and simple analytical expressions for the time delay, pulse width, and peak intensity of the output radiation. These results are in good agreement with experiments. A comparison of our model with previous treatments of superradiance is given.