Signatures of superradiance in intensity correlation measurements in a two-emitter solid-state system

Abstract

We perform intensity correlation ($g^{(2)}(τ)$) measurements on nitrogen-vacancy (NV) emitters embedded in diamond nanopillars. We observe an increase in transition rates from both the singlet and triplet states by a factor of $\approx 6$, indicating cooperative effects between the multiple emitters in the pillar, at room temperature. We simultaneously observe a $g^{(2)}(0) > 0.5 (\to 1$) as opposed to $g^{(2)}(0) < 0.5$ for others (and as expected for single emitters), indicating the presence of at least two emitters. Furthermore, we observe a triple exponential behaviour for the $g^{(2)}$ in contrast to the standard double exponential behaviour seen for single NV emitters. To understand our experimental observations, we developed a theoretical model. We solve the Lindblad master equation, tailored for single and two NV centers, to study their dissipative dynamics when coupled to a common electromagnetic field, at a finite temperature. Through this, we identify superradiant emission from a two-emitter system as the most likely explanation for our observed data. We also find that random number generation using the coupled emitter system performs better under the NIST test suite and explain it in terms of an entropy-driven model for a coupled emitter system. Our results provide a new signature for multiphotonic states, such as superradiant states, using intensity correlation measurements, that will become important for quantum photonic technologies progress.