Lorenzo Rossi

ICFO - The Institute of Photonic Sciences
“Many-body subradiant dynamics”

Abstract

The emission of photons from an ensemble of excited atoms is not an independent process due to the interference of the emitted light. This correlated dissipation can lead to the well-known phenomenon of superradiance — an enhanced collective emission of radiation — as well as to subradiant states with strongly suppressed decay rates. While superradiance can be well understood with a mean-field analysis, a thorough understanding of the dynamics within the subradiant manifold is still lacking and demands a different approach. A major breakthrough comes from studying quantum emitters arranged in ordered arrays. Thanks to the periodic arrangement, the correlated dissipation takes a simple structure, and the whole problem assumes a formulation that allows one to draw insights from condensed matter physics. Subradiant dynamics can then be understood by leveraging insights from quantum thermalization, enabling the exploration of exotic (meta-stable) light-matter phases.

In this talk, I will first give an introductory overview of the physics of correlated dissipation and ordered arrays. Then, I will describe the theoretical framework we are developing and focus on our ongoing study of the subradiant dynamics in a one-dimensional chain of atoms. In particular, I will highlight how this dynamical problem can be mapped to an out-of-equilibrium Tonks–Girardeau gas with momentum-dependent losses.

https://meet.google.com/whq-mkve-aja