Observing superradiant decay of excited-state helium atoms inside helium plasma. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Using femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy on excited-state helium atoms in a plasma created through optical field ionization, we measured the decay of 2(3)S-2(3)P excitation with sub-ps temporal resolution. The population evolution shows that initial decay is significantly faster than the electron-atom collisions and three orders of magnitude faster than the single atom spontaneous decay rate. This indicates on superradiant coherent behavior of the atomic system inside the plasma.

published proceedings

  • Phys Rev Lett

author list (cited authors)

  • Xia, H., Svidzinsky, A. A., Yuan, L., Lu, C., Suckewer, S., & Scully, M. O.

citation count

  • 21

complete list of authors

  • Xia, Hui||Svidzinsky, Anatoly A||Yuan, Luqi||Lu, Chao||Suckewer, Szymon||Scully, Marlan O

publication date

  • August 2012