Angular momentum conservation in two-atom superradiance

@misc{berman2026angular,
  title = {{Angular momentum conservation in two-atom superradiance}},
  author = {P. R. Berman and Zeyuan Wang and A. Kuzmich},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.31433},
  eprint = {2609.31433},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.31433},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Angular momentum conservation in two-atom superradiance
AU  - P. R. Berman
AU  - Zeyuan Wang
AU  - A. Kuzmich
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/20
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.31433
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.31433
AB  - Two-atom superradiance is studied for atoms having a J=0 ground state and a J=1 excited state. The atoms lie on the x-axis and are excited by a σ_{+}-polarized laser pulse propagating in the z-direction. We use two, complementary approaches to obtain the final angular momentum in the field, a source-field approach and a Schrodinger picture approach. Both approaches give identical answers, but it is necessary to include terms in both calculations that, at first glance, might not be expected to contribute. We show that, owing to an exchange between a state in which atom 1 is in its m=1 excited state and atom 2 is in its ground state to one in which atom 2 is in its m=-1 excited state and atom 1 in its ground state, the final angular momentum in the field is not necessarily equal to the initial angular momentum in the two-atom system. The missing angular momentum appears as orbital angular momentum of the two atoms.
ER  -