Evolution of collective N atom states in single photon superradiance: Effect of virtual Lamb shift processes Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • We present analytical solutions for the evolution of collective states of N atoms. On the one hand is a (timed) Dicke state prepared by the conditional absorption of a single photon and exhibiting superradiant decay. This is in strong contrast to the evolution of a symmetric Dicke state which is trapped for large atomic clouds. We show that virtual processes yield only a small effect on the evolution of the rapidly decaying timed Dicke state. However, they change the long time dynamics from exponential decay into a power-law behavior which can be observed experimentally. For trapped states virtual processes are much more important and provide new decay channels resulting in a slow decay of the otherwise trapped state. 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

published proceedings

  • OPTICS COMMUNICATIONS

author list (cited authors)

  • Svidzinsky, A. A., & Scully, M. O.

citation count

  • 44

complete list of authors

  • Svidzinsky, Anatoly A||Scully, Marian O

publication date

  • July 2009