In this thesis, I describe the theoretical development of the superradiant laser, or laser in the\ extreme bad-cavity regime. In this regime, the cavity decay rate is much greater than the atomic\ dynamics. The atoms emit photons into the cavity mode superradiantly in steady state. We\ develop group-theoretic methods that enable us to exactly solve mesoscopic systems with hundreds\ of atoms. We demonstrate the synchronization of atomic dipoles in steady-state superradiance.\ With this synchronized system, we propose conditional Ramsey spectroscopy which allows us to\ observe Ramsey fringes indefinitely, even in the presence of atomic decoherence. Furthermore,\ we explore manifestations of synchronization in the quantum realm with two superradiant atomic\ ensembles. We show that two such ensembles exhibit a dynamical phase transition from two\ disparate oscillators to quantum phase-locked dynamics. Finally, we study the mechanical effect of\ the light-atom interaction in the steady-state superradiance. We find efficient many-body cooling\ of atoms. The work described in this thesis lays the theoretical foundation for the superradiant\ laser and for a potential future of active optical frequency standards.
CY - Boulder, CO DA - 04-2016 N2 -In this thesis, I describe the theoretical development of the superradiant laser, or laser in the\ extreme bad-cavity regime. In this regime, the cavity decay rate is much greater than the atomic\ dynamics. The atoms emit photons into the cavity mode superradiantly in steady state. We\ develop group-theoretic methods that enable us to exactly solve mesoscopic systems with hundreds\ of atoms. We demonstrate the synchronization of atomic dipoles in steady-state superradiance.\ With this synchronized system, we propose conditional Ramsey spectroscopy which allows us to\ observe Ramsey fringes indefinitely, even in the presence of atomic decoherence. Furthermore,\ we explore manifestations of synchronization in the quantum realm with two superradiant atomic\ ensembles. We show that two such ensembles exhibit a dynamical phase transition from two\ disparate oscillators to quantum phase-locked dynamics. Finally, we study the mechanical effect of\ the light-atom interaction in the steady-state superradiance. We find efficient many-body cooling\ of atoms. The work described in this thesis lays the theoretical foundation for the superradiant\ laser and for a potential future of active optical frequency standards.
PB - University of Colorado Boulder PP - Boulder, CO PY - 2016 EP - 109 TI - Theory of Steady-State Superradiance VL - Ph.D. ER -