Effects of structured environments on collective properties of coupled systems

We study superradiance in molecular systems in a setup similar to the one used in recent experiments [1]. In contrast to atomic systems, the excited state of a molecule can decay into different vibrational states of the electronic ground state, which are subject to relaxation. We employ a simple three-level model to analyze the effect of vibrational relaxation on the visibility of superradiance.

Since coupled systems with many degrees of freedom such as a collection of two-level atoms interacting with a structured environment are difficult to tackle computationally in general, we also harness what is called a quantum simulator. Embedding an aggregate of rubidium atoms in an optically driven background gas, we can provide a controllable environment for the aggregate and study its dynamics in regimes where straightforward perturbative approaches break down and numerical simulation is impeded by the system size.

[1] Phys. Rev. B 92, 121408(R) (2015)