Cavity-Mediated Collective Emission from Few Emitters in a Diamond Membrane

When an ensemble of quantum emitters couples to a common radiation field, their polarizations can synchronize and a collective emission termed superfluorescence can occur. Entering this regime in a free-space setting requires a large number of emitters with a high spatial density as well as coherent...

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Main Authors: Maximilian Pallmann, Kerim Köster, Yuan Zhang, Julia Heupel, Timon Eichhorn, Cyril Popov, Klaus Mølmer, David Hunger
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Physical Society 2024-12-01
Series:Physical Review X
Online Access:http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.14.041055
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author Maximilian Pallmann
Kerim Köster
Yuan Zhang
Julia Heupel
Timon Eichhorn
Cyril Popov
Klaus Mølmer
David Hunger
author_facet Maximilian Pallmann
Kerim Köster
Yuan Zhang
Julia Heupel
Timon Eichhorn
Cyril Popov
Klaus Mølmer
David Hunger
author_sort Maximilian Pallmann
collection DOAJ
description When an ensemble of quantum emitters couples to a common radiation field, their polarizations can synchronize and a collective emission termed superfluorescence can occur. Entering this regime in a free-space setting requires a large number of emitters with a high spatial density as well as coherent optical transitions with small inhomogeneity. Here, we show that, by coupling nitrogen-vacancy centers in a diamond membrane to a high-finesse microcavity, also few, incoherent, inhomogeneous, and spatially separated emitters—as are typical for solid state systems—can enter the regime of collective emission. We observe a superlinear power dependence of the emission rate as a hallmark of collective emission. Furthermore, we find simultaneous photon bunching and antibunching on different timescales in the second-order autocorrelation function, revealing cavity-induced interference in the quantized emission from about 15 emitters. We develop theoretical models for mesoscopic emitter numbers to analyze the behavior in the Dicke state basis and find that the population of collective states together with cavity enhancement and filtering can explain the observations. Such a system has prospects for the generation of multiphoton quantum states, the preparation of entanglement in few-emitter systems, and enhancement of signals in quantum sensing.
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spelling doaj-art-78c09136110d47fca8f6cbef304cd7ba2025-08-20T02:13:31ZengAmerican Physical SocietyPhysical Review X2160-33082024-12-0114404105510.1103/PhysRevX.14.041055Cavity-Mediated Collective Emission from Few Emitters in a Diamond MembraneMaximilian PallmannKerim KösterYuan ZhangJulia HeupelTimon EichhornCyril PopovKlaus MølmerDavid HungerWhen an ensemble of quantum emitters couples to a common radiation field, their polarizations can synchronize and a collective emission termed superfluorescence can occur. Entering this regime in a free-space setting requires a large number of emitters with a high spatial density as well as coherent optical transitions with small inhomogeneity. Here, we show that, by coupling nitrogen-vacancy centers in a diamond membrane to a high-finesse microcavity, also few, incoherent, inhomogeneous, and spatially separated emitters—as are typical for solid state systems—can enter the regime of collective emission. We observe a superlinear power dependence of the emission rate as a hallmark of collective emission. Furthermore, we find simultaneous photon bunching and antibunching on different timescales in the second-order autocorrelation function, revealing cavity-induced interference in the quantized emission from about 15 emitters. We develop theoretical models for mesoscopic emitter numbers to analyze the behavior in the Dicke state basis and find that the population of collective states together with cavity enhancement and filtering can explain the observations. Such a system has prospects for the generation of multiphoton quantum states, the preparation of entanglement in few-emitter systems, and enhancement of signals in quantum sensing.http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.14.041055
spellingShingle Maximilian Pallmann
Kerim Köster
Yuan Zhang
Julia Heupel
Timon Eichhorn
Cyril Popov
Klaus Mølmer
David Hunger
Cavity-Mediated Collective Emission from Few Emitters in a Diamond Membrane
Physical Review X
title Cavity-Mediated Collective Emission from Few Emitters in a Diamond Membrane
title_full Cavity-Mediated Collective Emission from Few Emitters in a Diamond Membrane
title_fullStr Cavity-Mediated Collective Emission from Few Emitters in a Diamond Membrane
title_full_unstemmed Cavity-Mediated Collective Emission from Few Emitters in a Diamond Membrane
title_short Cavity-Mediated Collective Emission from Few Emitters in a Diamond Membrane
title_sort cavity mediated collective emission from few emitters in a diamond membrane
url http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.14.041055
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