Quantum Statistical Theory of Superradiance. II

Abstract

We discuss the solution of the "superradiance master equation" derived in a preceding paper. During the first few photon transient times the cooperative atomic decay goes through a non-adiabatic oscillatory regime. For later times the decay takes place monotonically in time with the electromagnetic field following it adiabatically. The emitted light pulse has different statistical properties for an incoherently and a coherently prepared "superradiant" atomic initial state. The former case is characterized by large quantum fluctuations and strong atom-atom and atom-field correlations. In the latter case quantum fluctuations are small and the system behaves essentially classically. By also solving for a class of coherently prepared intermediate initial states we show that large quantum fluctuations occur only if the initial total occupancy of the excited state differs from the total number of atoms at most by a number of order unity.