The coherent volume of single quantum states of matter is typically smaller than that of photons by several orders of magnitude, and hence, interactions between photons and single quantum states are normally very weak. This limits the speed of radiative decay of matter states in free space. Recent efforts to speed-up radiative processes have been focused on creating a small mode volume of photons using cavity systems, or on realizing spontaneous synchronization among quantum emitters to create a dipole at the macroscopic scale, which accelerates photon emission up to a couple of hundred femtoseconds. Here, we demonstrate the 10-fs class of photoluminescence (PL) of a single quantum state in solid thin films without the use of a photo-cavity system or the spontaneous synchronization effect. Significantly, this speed can beat thermal dephasing of relevant excited states at room temperature, which is typically a couple of tens of femtoseconds. The process occurs due to the giant interaction volume between light waves and the multipole excitonic waves. This result indicates the possibility to realize photoemission processes that complete before the thermal dephasing process activates, which opens up the hidden potential of ubiquitous solids as thermal-free or extremely low-energy-loss photonic materials.
The coherent volume of single quantum states of matter is typically smaller than that of photons by several orders of magnitude, and hence, interactions between photons and single quantum states are normally very weak. This limits the speed of radiative decay of matter states in free space. Recent efforts to speed-up radiative processes have been focused on creating a small mode volume of photons using cavity systems, or on realizing spontaneous synchronization among quantum emitters to create a dipole at the macroscopic scale, which accelerates photon emission up to a couple of hundred femtoseconds. Here, we demonstrate the 10-fs class of photoluminescence (PL) of a single quantum state in solid thin films without the use of a photo-cavity system or the spontaneous synchronization effect. Significantly, this speed can beat thermal dephasing of relevant excited states at room temperature, which is typically a couple of tens of femtoseconds. The process occurs due to the giant interaction volume between light waves and the multipole excitonic waves. This result indicates the possibility to realize photoemission processes that complete before the thermal dephasing process activates, which opens up the hidden potential of ubiquitous solids as thermal-free or extremely low-energy-loss photonic materials.
We demonstrate ultrafast superradiance showing 10-fs decay due to the nonlocal interaction between light waves and exciton waves in CuCl mesoscopic thin films. This time constant is comparable with the thermal dephasing even at room temperature. Actually, we observed photoluminescence signal from one confined mode of translational motion of the exciton surviving at room temperature. In addition, temperature dependence of the photoluminescence spectra with multiple peaks was reproduced well by theoretical calculation. This finding opens a new avenue of “thermal free photonics”, where the exciton coherence is utilized at higher temperature.
Ultrafast luminescence represents a frontier in optical materials science, bridging fundamental investigations of light–matter interaction and the development of next‐generation photonic devices. Enhancing the speed of luminescence has long been a central objective, with continued relevance in both fundamental and applied contexts. In advanced photonic systems, rapid light emission enables the realization of extremely bright and temporally precise optical signals. This capability is crucial for quantum information technologies, where single‐photon sources with short radiative lifetimes are essential, as well as for classical high‐speed optical communication and sensing platforms. This review highlights recent progress in accelerating the emission process by leveraging cooperative emission effects, resonator‐enhanced coupling, and nonlocal or multipolar interactions, incorporating the authors’ original contributions and perspectives. These advances have led to the realization of novel coherent and incoherent bright light sources, high‐efficiency single‐photon emitters, radiative processes robust against thermal dephasing, and photon generation from materials typically regarded as nonluminescent due to thermal relaxation or self‐trapping. These mechanisms from both theoretical and experimental perspectives are explored, and insights into their integration for future photonic architectures are offered.
Metal halide perovskites (MHPs) have emerged as promising platforms for cooperative quantum emission. Superfluorescence is particularly intriguing because it arises from spontaneous synchronization of initially incoherent emitters into a macroscopic quantum state, producing delayed, intense, ultrafast bursts of coherent light. While superfluorescence has been demonstrated in perovskite nanocrystal superlattices and thin films, the mechanisms that enable its emergence at elevated temperatures, and the boundaries that separate cooperative from non-cooperative emission regimes, remain insufficiently understood.[1],[2] Addressing these knowledge gaps is essential for advancing superfluorescence toward quantum photonic applications.[3] In this talk, I present how our work tackles the challenges of identifying, and controlling superfluorescence in quasi-2D perovskite thin films. We demonstrate clear evidence to distinguish superfluorescence from amplified spontaneous emission and spontaneous emission. A comprehensive experimental phase map is constructed to reveal when and how macroscopic coherence forms, how it decays, and under what conditions it transitions into non-cooperative regimes.[4] Using quasi-2D PBA:CsPbBr3 thin films, we demonstrate superfluorescence with the lowest threshold fluence reported at 78 K in metal halide perovskites. Temperature and fluence dependent steady state and ultrafast spectroscopies resolve cooperative emission from 78 to 180 K, including a sharper coupled emission band, a delayed emission peak, ultrafast radiative lifetimes, quadratic like intensity scaling, and Burnham-Chiao ringing. We also map a phase diagram that delineates spontaneous emission, superfluorescence, and amplified spontaneous emission, and we observe deviations from ideal superfluorescence at high fluences and elevated temperatures, reflecting competing many-body and dephasing processes.[4] To interpret these observations, we introduce the ab initio quantum model Superfluorescence Non-Approximating Integrating Large Solver (SNAILS), which tracks emission density, inter emitter correlations, excited state populations, and trace distance under varying pumping and dephasing conditions.[4] Simulations reproduce delayed cooperative bursts when dephasing is weak and show rapid suppression of correlations and loss of delay when dephasing is stronger. Trace distance dynamics identify synchronization plateaus during cooperative emission and prolonged plateaus linked to subradiant or dark states under high dephasing, establishing a unified framework for cooperative emission and its breakdown in perovskite thin films. Overall, this work clarifies the optical and dynamical conditions required for macroscopic coherence in perovskites. The combined insights from phase mapping, ultrafast spectroscopy, and quantum modeling highlight strategies for lowering threshold fluence, mitigating dephasing, and extending superfluorescence toward higher temperatures.
Recent advances in optical studies of condensed matter systems have led to the emergence of a variety of phenomena that have conventionally been studied in the realm of quantum optics. These studies have not only deepened our understanding of light–matter interactions but have also introduced aspects of many-body correlations inherent in optical processes in condensed matter systems. This paper is concerned with the phenomenon of superradiance (SR), a profound quantum optical process originally predicted by Dicke in 1954. The basic concept of SR applies to a general N body system, where constituent oscillating dipoles couple together through interaction with a common light field and accelerate the radiative decay of the whole system. Hence, the term SR ubiquitously appears in order to describe radiative coupling of an arbitrary number of oscillators in many situations in modern science of both classical and quantum description. In the most fascinating manifestation of SR, known as superfluorescence (SF), an incoherently prepared system of N inverted atoms spontaneously develops macroscopic coherence from vacuum fluctuations and produces a delayed pulse of coherent light whose peak intensity ∝N2. Such SF pulses have been observed in atomic and molecular gases, and their intriguing quantum nature has been unambiguously demonstrated. In this review, we focus on the rapidly developing field of research on SR phenomena in solids, where not only photon-mediated coupling (as in atoms) but also strong Coulomb interactions and ultrafast scattering processes exist. We describe SR and SF in molecular centers in solids, molecular aggregates and crystals, quantum dots, and quantum wells. In particular, we will summarize a series of studies we have recently performed on semiconductor quantum wells in the presence of a strong magnetic field. In one type of experiment, electron-hole pairs were incoherently prepared, but a macroscopic polarization spontaneously emerged and cooperatively decayed, emitting an intense SF burst. In another type of experiment, we observed the SR decay of coherent cyclotron resonance of ultrahigh-mobility 2D electron gases, leading to a decay rate that is proportional to the electron density. These results show that cooperative effects in solid-state systems are not merely small corrections that require exotic conditions to be observed; rather, they can dominate the nonequilibrium dynamics and light emission processes of the entire system of interacting electrons.
Our group recently discovered bright, stable, linearly polarized, and high-purity sources of single-photon emission at room temperature in SiN. Currently, we study the possibility of generating indistinguishable photons by plasmonic speed-up of photoemission, which may enable broader applications of SiN single-photon sources in quantum information technology. The enhancement of the light-matter interaction with plasmonic materials can shorten the spontaneous emission time to beat the dephasing time and achieve coherence even at non-cryogenic temperatures. Our findings spark further studies of quantum emitters toward deeper understanding of their nature, deterministic formation, and scalable integration with on-chip quantum photonic circuitry.
We propose an unconventional scheme of photoluminescence in a semiconductor thin film, where the nonlocal correlation between an excitonic wave and light wave prominently enhances the interaction between different excitonic states via radiation beyond the long-wavelength approximation (the so-called excitonic superradiance regime). On the basis of the developed method extending input-output theory, we elucidate atypical photoluminescence effects due to the strong wave-wave correlation. In particular, the upconverted photoluminescence based on the coherent quantum superposition of excitons is found to be highly efficient, i.e., it can be realized by weak pumping without auxiliary systems such as cavities or photonic antennas.