The presence of superradiance and subradiance in microscopic and mean-field approaches to light scattering in atomic media is investigated. We show that these phenomena are present in both descriptions, with only minor quantitative differences, so neither rely on disorder. In particular, they are most prominent in media with high resonant optical depth yet far-detuned light, i.e., in the single-scattering regime.

• Received 5 April 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.98.013622