Beyond the Tavis-Cummings model: Revisiting cavity QED with ensembles of quantum emitters

Abstract

The interaction of an ensemble of N two-level quantum emitters with a single-mode electromagnetic field is described by the Tavis-Cummings model. There, the collectively enhanced light-matter coupling strength is given by gN=Ng¯1, where g¯1 is the ensemble-averaged single-emitter coupling strength. This model has been employed to describe and to analyze numerous cavity-based experiments. Here, we show that this is only justified if the effective scattering rate into noncavity modes is negligible compared to the cavity's free-spectral range. In terms of experimental parameters, this requires that the optical depth of the ensemble is low, a condition that is violated in several state-of-the-art experiments. We give quantitative conditions for the validity of the Tavis-Cummings model and derive a more general Hamiltonian description that takes into account the cascaded interaction of the photons with all consecutive emitters. We show that the predictions of our cascaded model can differ quantitatively and even qualitatively from those obtained with the Tavis-Cummings model. Finally, we present experimental data, for which the deviation from the predictions of the Tavis-Cummings model is apparent. Our findings are relevant for all experiments in which optically dense ensembles of quantum emitters are coupled to an optical resonator.