Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 20, 2025

Stimulated Stokes and Antistokes Raman Scattering in Microspherical Whispering Gallery Mode Resonators
Published on: April 4, 2016
Many-Body Superradiance and Dynamical Mirror Symmetry Breaking in Waveguide QED
Silvia Cardenas-Lopez1, Stuart J Masson1, Zoe Zager1
1Department of Physics, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.
We found that arrays of emitters in a one-dimensional bath can exhibit Dicke superradiance, releasing energy as a rapid photon burst. This many-body superradiance involves amplified initial fluctuations and leads to symmetry breaking in photon emission direction.
Area of Science:
- Quantum optics
- Condensed matter physics
- Many-body physics
Background:
- The decay dynamics of multiple interacting quantum emitters are not fully understood.
- Dicke superradiance describes collective emission from an inverted system, resulting in a rapid photon burst.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate Dicke superradiance in arrays of emitters coupled to a one-dimensional bath.
- To determine the minimal conditions for many-body superradiance.
Main Methods:
- Theoretical analysis of emitter-bath interactions.
- Derivation of conditions for superradiant burst formation.
- Examination of ordered and disordered emitter ensembles.
Main Results:
- Identified conditions for many-body superradiance based on emitter number, waveguide chirality, and optical depth.
- Observed amplification of initial fluctuations driving the superradiant decay.
- Demonstrated spontaneous mirror symmetry breaking in photon emission direction.
Conclusions:
- Many-body superradiance is achievable in one-dimensional systems.
- Superradiant bursts can generate correlated photon states with exotic quantum statistics.
- Symmetry breaking in photon emission provides evidence for superradiant phenomena.
Related Concept Videos
The de Broglie Wavelength
The Wave Nature of Light
Standing Waves in a Cavity
Symmetry in Maxwell's Equations
Electromagnetic Waves in Matter
Consider the electromagnetic wave passing through a dielectric medium. In such a case, Maxwell's equations get modified. In Ampere's law, ε0 , the dielectric permittivity of free space is replaced with ε, the permittivity of dielectric. Also, the vacuum permeability μ0 is replaced by the permeability of the...
Electromagnetic Wave Equation
However, although electric and magnetic fields were first introduced as mathematical constructs to simplify the description of mutual forces between charges, a natural question emerges from Maxwell's equations:...

