Dicke superradiance in atomic arrays: Part 2

In previous work, we derived an inequality which can be used to characterize the emission from fully excited arrays of atoms. Here, we investigate the role of dimensionality and geometry on the collective decay of large atomic arrays. We show that for 1D arrays, Dicke superradiance is bounded and cannot occur for any atom number above a particular distance. In 2D, the maximum interatomic distance for Dicke superradiance scales sub-logarithmically with atom number, and faster than that for 3D arrays. In contrast to Dicke's original work, which assumes that all atoms are confined to a volume of dimensions much smaller than the transition wavelength, we show that superradiance survives in arrays where the smallest interparticle distance is larger than a wavelength. Our results provide a guide to explore this many-body phenomenon in state-of-the-art experimental setups.