From superradiance to subradiance: exploring the many-body Dicke ladder

TL;DR

This study investigates the time-dependent collective emission phenomena of superradiance and subradiance in dense atomic ensembles, revealing the dynamic population transfer and the complex many-body interactions beyond ideal Dicke superradiance.

Contribution

It provides the first direct time-resolved comparison of superradiant and subradiant state dynamics in dense atomic ensembles under strong laser excitation.

Findings

Demonstrated the time buildup of subradiant states from superradiant dynamics

Measured the population dynamics of superradiant and subradiant states

Showed deviations from ideal Dicke superradiance due to many-body effects

Abstract

We report a time-resolved study of collective emission in dense ensembles of two-level atoms. We compare, on the same sample, the build-up of superradiance and subradiance from the ensemble when driven by a strong laser. This allows us to measure the dynamics of the population of superradiant and subradiant states as a function of time. In particular we demonstrate the build up in time of subradiant states through the superradiant dynamics. This illustrates the dynamics of the many-body density matrix of superradiant ensembles of two-level atoms when departing from the ideal conditions of Dicke superradiance in which symmetry forbids the population of subradiant states.