Journal of Modern Optics
Sub-radiant States of a Spatially Extended System ofNTwo-level Atoms
G. Benivegna, ANTONINO MESSINA
Abstract
The existence of sub-radiance is demonstrated for a generalized rotating-wave approximation Dicke Hamiltonian model characterized by an arbitrary space dependence of the coupling constants of N two-level atoms to a single mode of a radiation field. To deduce this result we first establish the form of a characteristic equation for sub-radiance and then solve it by introducing a suitable non-unitary operator. In this way the explicit form of all the sub-radiant states of the spatially extended model are easily obtained from those that are well known and relative to the point-like Dicke model. Our investigation clearly shows that inhomogeneous coupling of the N atoms with the field is compatible with sub-radiant behaviour.