Cooperative emission of light by an ensemble of dipoles near a metal nanostucture: The plasmonic Dicke effect

TL;DR

This paper introduces a plasmonic Dicke effect where an ensemble of dipoles near a metal nanostructure exhibits enhanced cooperative emission through surface plasmon exchange, resulting in super-radiant modes with decay rates scaling with N.

Contribution

The study reveals a new mechanism for cooperative light emission involving virtual plasmon exchange, leading to super-radiant modes in plasmonic systems, which persists despite non-radiative losses.

Findings

Radiative decay rates of super-radiant modes scale with N

Total radiated energy is three times that of a single emitter

The plasmonic Dicke effect survives non-radiative losses

Abstract

We identify a new mechanism for cooperative emission of light by an ensemble of N dipoles near a metal nanostructure supporting a surface plasmon.The cross-talk between emitters due to virtual plasmon exchange leads to a formation of three plasmonic super-radiant modes whose radiative decay rates scales with N, while the total radiated energy is thrice that of a single emitter. Our numerical simulations indicate that the plasmonic Dicke effect survives non-radiative losses in the metal.