Fractional decay of population inversion and spectral shift of superfluorescence in photonic crystals due to anomalous Rabi splitting and localization of macroscopic polarization field are demonstrated by means of the coupled-mode analysis for the pencil-like excitation of embedded atoms. Noninteger exponents of atomic density dependence are predicted for the temporal profile of emitted light pulses.

• Received 22 July 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.68.053809