Two-atom spontaneous emission in a planar microcavity

Spontaneous emission in a planar microcavity by two identical and spatially separated two-level atoms, both of them initially excited, is considered under fourth-order perturbation approximation in atom-field coupling constants. A delay-differential equation with proper retardation times for the probability of both atoms in the upper state is derived and expressions for the emitted-light intensity and spectrum are given. It is numerically shown that, while two-atom cooperation is enhanced for small interatomic distances, the two-atom vacuum Rabi oscillation is somewhat suppressed compared to the single-atom oscillation level when the interatomic separation is close to the cavity transverse coherence length.