Collective scattering in hybrid nanostructures with many atomic oscillators coupled to an electromagnetic resonance

TL;DR

This paper introduces a general theoretical framework for analyzing collective effects in hybrid nanostructures with many atomic oscillators coupled to electromagnetic resonances, revealing superradiant modes that persist after averaging and can cloak the ensemble.

Contribution

The authors develop a modal analysis-based formalism that models complex hybrid systems without restrictions on shape or material, enabling statistical predictions of collective behaviors.

Findings

Superradiant modes persist after ensemble averaging.

Superradiant modes act as an invisibility cloak with a spectral bandwidth.

The spectral bandwidth scales with the number of oscillators and Purcell factor.

Abstract

There is considerable interest in collective effects in hybrid systems formed by molecular or atomic ensembles strongly coupled by an electromagnetic resonance. For analyzing such collective effects, we develop an efficient and general theoretical formalism based on the natural modes of the resonator. The main strength of our approach is its generality and the high level of analyticity enabled by modal analysis, which allows one to model complex hybrid systems without any restriction on the resonator shapes or material properties, and to perform statistical computations to predict general properties that are robust to spatial and polarization disorders. Most notably, we establish that superradiant modes remain even after ensemble averaging and act as an invisibility cloak with a spectral bandwidth that scales with the number of oscillators and the spatially-averaged Purcell factor.