CRITIQUE OF THE BONIFACIO-LUGIATO SUPERFLUORESCENCE MODEL

This paper shows how the Bonifacio-Lugiato mean-field model of atomic superfluorescence, which is particularly attractive because it deals w ith a crystalline array of emitters, can be extended to the nuclear ca se. However, limits exist on the validity of certain approximations us ed in the development of the model. In particular, a numerical instabi lity that increases without bound is shown to exist in the non-Markovi an case, placing in doubt the application of the semiclassical theory derived for the non-Markovian case.