Speaker
Federico Chiossi
(University of Padova)
Description
We report the experimental observation and characterization of
macroscopically coherent states involving several 10¹² erbium ions in
cryogenically cooled crystals. These states emerge spontaneously from an
optically excited population of 10¹⁵ ions, coupled solely through
their own near-infrared emission. The synchronization of the ions'
dipoles accelerates their radiative decay by up to a million times,
producing a powerful burst of coherent emission. Our results reveal the
dynamics of large-scale coherent phenomena in solid-state ensembles and
open new perspectives for exploiting such coherent states to enhance the
rate of extremely rare processes through cooperative behavior.