We investigate the resonance fluorescence features of a small ensemble of closely packed and moderately laser-pumped two-level emitters at resonance. The mean distance between any two-level radiators is smaller than the corresponding emission wavelength, such that the dipole-dipole interactions are not negligible. We have found that under the secular approximation, the collective resonance fluorescence spectrum consists of 2 N + 1 spectral lines, where N is the number of emitters from the sample. The 2 N spectral sidebands, symmetrically located around the generalized Rabi frequency with respect to the central line at the laser frequency, are distinguishable if the dipole-dipole coupling strength is larger than the collective spontaneous decay rate. This way, one can estimate the radiators number within the ensemble via measuring of the spontaneously scattered collective resonance fluorescence spectrum. Contrarily, if the dipole-dipole coupling is of the order of or smaller than the cooperative spontaneous decay rate, but still non-negligible, the spectrum turns into a Mollow-like fluorescence spectrum, where the two sidebands' spectral lines broaden proportional to the dipole-dipole coupling strength. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
Resonance-fluorescence power spectrum of two-level atoms driven by a strong monochromatic laser field is discussed, taking into account effects due to the dipole-dipole interaction between the atoms. For two atoms confined to a region smaller than the wavelength of the driving field, we predict significant deviations of the power spectrum from the single-atom case. The two-atom spectrum is nonsymmetric, the wing peaks are shifted from their Rabi-frequency positions, and additional maxima may appear.
The spectrum of resonance fluorescence and the second-order correlation function are calculated for a system of two identical two-level cooperative systems interacting via the dipole-dipole interaction. The results are valid for arbitrary incident-field strengths and for atomic separations much less than the resonant wavelength. The intensity of the sidebands at the Rabi frequency is diminished by the dipole interaction, whereas that of the sidebands at twice the Rabi frequency is enhanced. Both the cooperative behavior and the dipole-dipole interaction act to diminish the photon antibunching, as shown by the second-order correlation function.
We discuss a mean-field quantum-mechanical model which describes the dynamics of a homogeneously broadened system of two-level atoms contained in a pencil-shaped resonant cavity and driven by a coherent resonant field
EI. The model is treated in the semiclassical approximation. The model is justified on the basis of Maxwell-Bloch equations with two coherently coupled directions of propagation, with boundary conditions for the fields taken into account. Above a suitable critical density of atoms the system exhibits a bistable behavior including both the stationary situation and the transient, both the light transmitted in the forward direction and the fluorescent light. Bistability is shown to be a consequence of atomic cooperation. We give a simple description of optical bistability leading to new predictions for the transient behavior of the transmitted light and for the spectrum of the fluorescent light. The damping constant which characterizes the rate of appraoch to the stationary situation exhibits a hysteresis cycle. In the low-transmission regime the approach is monotonic, whereas in the highly transmitting situation the approach is oscillatory. One finds a critical slowing down in correspondence with the values
EI(+), ${{E}_{I}}^{(\ensuremath{-})}$ of the incident field where the transmitted field (as well as the total fluorescence intensity, the rate of approach to the stationary state, etc.) changes discontinuously. On the basis of the regression hypothesis we give a qualitative description of the spectrum of the fluorescent light. This is shown to undergo hysteresis and discontinuous changes at the same values
EI(+), ${E}_{I}^{(\ensuremath{-})}$ of the incident field. Below the critical density of atoms one recovers the usual picture of resonance fluorescence, with a continuous transition from a single-line spectrum to a three-peaked structure when the Rabi frequency becomes equal to the natural linewidth. Above the critical density the triplet appears only when the Rabi frequency becomes equal to the cooperative linewidth of pure super-fluorescence (i.e., for
EI=EI(+)). Moreover, it appears discontinuously: when
EI crosses the value
EI(+) the spectrum changes from a single narrow line to a triplet with well-separated sidebands.
The exact steady-state solution is presented for the reduced atomic density operator describing the cooperative resonance fluorescence from a system of two atoms separated by an arbitrary distance in an off-resonance laser field, with the dipole-dipole near-field interaction between the atoms included. It is shown that the destructive effect of the dipole-dipole interaction on the formation of squeezing in two-atom resonance fluorescence found recently by Ficek et al. can be compensated to a very large extent by an appropriate choice of the detuning between the laser frequency and the single-atom transition frequency.