Cooperative spontaneous emission of three identical atoms

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the spatial arrangement of three identical atoms affects their cooperative spontaneous emission, revealing that symmetry enhances superradiance and influences spectral features like the Lamb shift.

Contribution

It introduces a model analyzing three-atom arrangements, including effects of counter rotating terms, and demonstrates how symmetry impacts superradiance and emission spectra.

Findings

Symmetric atom arrangements enhance superradiance.

Distribution affects the Lamb shift and spectral degeneracy.

Equilateral triangle configuration leads to spectral peak degeneracy.

Abstract

We study the influence of the distribution of atoms on the cooperative spontaneous emission by a simple model of three identical atoms. The effects of counter rotating terms are included by a unitary transformation method. By discussing two special cases that the three atoms are arranged as an equilateral triangle and in a straight line, we find that the superradiance of the coherent system largely dependent on the homogeneity of the atoms' distribution. If the atoms distribute symmetrically, the superradiant emission will be enhanced. Next, we calculate the emission spectra of three identical atoms under the single-photon state. We find that the distribution of atoms also has a great impact on the lamb shift and the spectrum. If three atoms are placed into an equilateral triangle and the same dipole moment is perpendicular to the plane of the three atoms, the spectrum will degenerate into two peaks from the three peaks for general case.