FLUCTUATIONS IN SUPERFLUORESCENCE

We show that certain properties of superfluorescent pulses radiated spontaneously by a system of many initially excited two-level atoms can be described by means of the classical Maxwell-Bloch equations. The quantum fluctuations which initiate the pulse are random initial polarizations. The radiated fields which arise from different initial polarization distributions vary significantly from pulse to pulse. Such variations represent quantum uncertainties amplified to the macroscopic level. Probability distributions are calculated for various parameters characterizing the shape of the output pulse as well as the mean and the variance of the radiated intensity. © 1979 The American Physical Society.