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Ultrafast electron-impact-excited N2 superfluorescence in femtosecond filaments

Cheming Chen (陈车明)1,*, Chuan Cheng (郑铨)2,*, Zoumingyang Zhu (朱邹明阳)1, Zetao Liu (刘泽涛)1, Jinping Yao (姚金平)3, Aurélien Houard4, André Mysyrowicz4, Yi Liu (刘一)5,4, Wen-Te Liao (廖文德)2,6,7 et al.

Pengji Ding (丁鹏基)1,8,†

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: dingpj@lzu.edu.cn

Phys. Rev. A 114, 043534 – Published 28 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/x1t4-s4sw

Abstract

We demonstrate that the 337-nm emission from neutral nitrogen molecules, pumped via incoherent electron-impact excitation in circularly polarized femtosecond filaments, is oscillatory superfluorescence (SF) rather than amplified spontaneous emission. Time-resolved measurements reveal that both the pulse duration and the emission delay scale as P−1/2 with nitrogen pressure, providing a definitive signature of gain-swept SF. These dynamics are quantitatively reproduced by bidirectional Maxwell-Bloch simulations that incorporate impulsive electron-impact excitation and fine-structure quantum beats. Our results demonstrate that macroscopic quantum coherence emerges following ultrafast electron-impact pumping and persists in atmospheric-pressure plasmas despite rapid collisional dephasing. These results establish femtosecond filaments as a robust platform for studying collective molecular phenomena and provide a framework for generating remote, coherent UV sources in the atmosphere.

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