Paired Superradiance Experiments

Satoshi Uetake

Kyungwon An, James R Harries, Susumu Kuma

Chiaki Ohae, Atsushi Fukumi, Susumu Kuma +10 more

We describe in this paper a fast and efficient method of producing a high density of barium (Ba) atoms in the 1D2 metastable state, which is a candidate initial state for a new class of cooperative and coherent optical process called paired superradiance (PSR). In the experiment, Ba atoms are excited first by laser light to the 1P1 state and then brought to the desired state 1D2 via radiative transition in the superradiance (SR) mode. It is found that a production efficiency (from 1S0 to 1D2) of more than ∼30% is achieved within a time interval of a few nanoseconds for a Ba density n > 1019 m−3. Several key features of SR important for future PSR experiments are also studied.

Heewoo Kim, Bojeong Seo, Han Seb Moon

Superradiance is one of the most fundamental collective quantum phenomena in light-matter interactions and has been studied extensively since Dicke's seminal work. However, its practical implementation remains challenging because superradiant enhancement requires strict experiment conditions for strong collective coupling among emitters. Can superradiance emerge in a simple platform, such as an atomic vapor cell composed of thermally moving atoms? To address this question, we identify the key signatures of superradiance in a hot atomic ensemble and find a use case of superradiance using an atomic vapor cell. Here, the Photon-Pair SuperRadiance (PPSR) process in an atomic vapor cell provides a novel approach to generating superradiant quantum light from a practical atomic platform. We experimentally demonstrate a superradiant entangled photon-pair generation via PPSR process in a high-density, 1-mm-long chip-scale Cs vapor cell. The hot, dense atomic vapor cell allows the mean interatomic distance in the Doppler-broadened atomic ensemble to be reduced to 0.29 times the idler-photon wavelength, satisfying the condition for cooperative emission. The thin chip-scale geometry enables high atomic densities while mitigating the reabsorption of emitted photons and maintaining moderate optical depth. In this subwavelength regime, we clearly observe the temporal narrowing of the biphoton wavefunction from 0.60 ns to 0.17 ns due to a superradiant decay. This pronounced temporal compression provides strong evidence of collective superradiant emission in the chip-scale Cs vapor cell. Our PPSR source delivers a detected photon-pair rate exceeding 10^6 pairs/s while maintaining a high coincidence-to-accidental ratio of 280.

Galina A. Nemova

Aharon Gero, Éric Akkermans

We show that in atomic gases cooperative effects like superradiance and subradiance lead to a potential between two atoms that decays like 1/r. In the case of superradiance, this potential is attractive for close enough atoms and can be interpreted as a coherent mesoscopic effect. The contribution of superradiant pairs to multiple scattering properties of a dilute gas, such as photon elastic mean free path and group velocity, is significantly different from that of independent atoms. We discuss the conditions under which these effects may be observed and compare our results to recent experiments on photon transport in cold atomic gases.