2008/08/20 by Diego Porras, D. Porras, J. I. Cirac · 133 citations
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic physics #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Context (archaeology) #Dipole #Excitation #Ground state #Laser #Photonics #Physics #Quantum #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum mechanics #Quantum optics #Quantum optics and atomic interactions #Spontaneous emission #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreva.78.053816
published in Physical Review A 78(5) (American Physical Society) · 15 pages, 10 figures
arxiv created 2008/08/20 · openalex publication_date 2008/11/12 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We present a theoretical framework to describe the collective emission of light by entangled atomic states. Our theory applies to the low-excitation regime, where most of the atoms are initially in the ground state, and relies on a bosonic description of the atomic excitations. In this way, the problem of light emission by an ensemble of atoms can be solved exactly, including dipole-dipole interactions and multiple light scattering. Explicit expressions for the emitted photonic states are obtained in several situations, such as those of atoms in regular lattices and atomic vapors. We determine the directionality of the photonic beam, the purity of the photonic state, and the renormalization of the emission rates. We also show how to observe collective phenomena with ultracold atoms in optical lattices and how to use these ideas to generate photonic states that are useful in the context of quantum information.