Cooperative effects in the light and dark periods of two dipole-interacting atoms

If an atom is able to exhibit macroscopic dark periods, or electron shelving, then a driven system of two atoms has three types of fluorescence periods (dark, single and double intensity). We propose to use the average durations of these fluorescence types as a simple and easily accessible indicator of cooperative effects. As an example we study two dipole-interacting V systems by simulation techniques. We show that the durations of the two types of light periods exhibit marked separation-dependent oscillations and that they vary in phase with the real part of the dipole-dipole coupling constant.