ABSTRACT
This chapter considers super-radiance on an elementary level in the sense that the main notions and concepts of the phenomenon will be treated as they evolved in the course of the early studies starting with the classical works by R. H. Dicke. It considers super-radiance from a system with dimensions small compared with the wavelength of the emission that is the Dicke model. The chapter discusses the results to be obtained are also applicable to the single-mode super-radiance of an extended system. It then considers mainly the cooperative spontaneous emission of a collection of N identical atoms confined within a small volume. If the audience wish to investigate the super-radiance of an extended system, the dimensions of which exceed the emission wavelength, the semiclassical method is more convenient. In essence, the semiclassical approach discussed in the chapter combines the quantum mechanical treatment of the atomic system that uses the density matrix formalism with the classical treatment of the radiation field.
