Controlling decoherence of a two-level atom in a lossy cavity

Abstract

By use of external periodic driving sources, we demonstrate the possibility of controlling the coherent as well as the decoherent dynamics of a two-level atom placed in a lossy cavity. The control of the coherent dynamics is elucidated for the phenomenon of coherent destruction of tunnelling (CDT), i.e. the coherent dynamics of a driven two-level atom in a quantum superposition state can be brought practically to a complete standstill. We study this phenomenon for different initial preparations of the two-level atom. We then proceed to investigate the decoherence originating from the interaction of the two-level atom with a lossy cavity mode. The loss mechanism is described in terms of a microscopic model that couples the cavity mode to a bath of harmonic field modes. A suitably tuned external cw-laser field applied to the two-level atom slows down considerably the decoherence of the atom. We demonstrate the suppression of decoherence for two opposite initial preparations of the atomic state: a quantum superposition state as well as the ground state. These findings can be used to decrease the influence of decoherence in qubit manipulation processes.     

The Jaynes-Cummings Model with a q Analogue of a Coherent State

Abstract

In this paper we study the time evolution of the atomic inversion of the two-level atom which is coupled to the q analogue of a single mode of the bosonic field. The q field under consideration is supposed to be prepared initially in the q analogue of Glauber's coherent state. We find that q deformation of Heisenberg algebra may correspond to some effective nonlinear interaction of the cavity mode.     

Production of Macroscopic Schrödinger Cat States from Weak Quantized Cavity Fields Interacting with Atoms Driven by Classical Fields

Abstract

We show that macroscopic superposition (Schrödinger cat) states of a quantized single-mode cavity field can be produced via the interaction of this field with a two-level atom which is driven by a classical field even for small initial intensities of the quantized cavity mode. We show that with a properly chosen driving field an almost pure superposition state with arbitrary amplitudes and phases of component states can be produced.     

Periodic Squeezing in the Tavis-Cummings Model

Abstract

By utilizing our previous operator solution [17], we have investigated the squeezing in the radiation field of the Tavis-Cummings model (collective N ? 1 two-level atoms interacting with a resonant single cavity quantized mode). With field and atoms initially in coherent field state strong or weak and atomic coherent state (of few excited atoms), periodic time-dependent squeezing in the field and the macroscopic polarization is expressed in terms of Jacobian elliptic functions of the first kind. The statistical investigations are carried out for the quasiprobability distribution functions (Wigner function and Q function). The distribution function of the field quadrature has a variance less (greater) than that for a coherent state if this quadrature is squeezed (unsqueezed).     

Quantum Electrodynamics of a Rydberg Atom Making Two-photon Transitions in the Binomial State of the Field in a Lossless Cavity

Abstract

The dynamic and statistical properties of a system of an effective two-level atom making two-photon transitions in the binomial state of the field in a lossless cavity are discussed. The binomial state enables the study of the development of the phenomenon of collapses and revivals of the Rabi oscillations as the field state is changed from a pure number state to a coherent state. This is because the binomial state, which is a pure number state in one limit, develops into a coherent state as some parameters are changed appropriately. The effect of Stark shifts arising due to the transitions to virtual levels are also investigated.     

Generating non-classical light inside an optical cavity by depositing photons

The creation of non-classical states of light is an interesting problem, that we solve sending atoms through an optical cavity. We show that it is possible to add or subtract many photons from a cavity field by interacting it resonantly with a two-level atom. The atom, after entangling with the field inside the cavity and exiting it, may be measured in one of the Schmidt states, producing a multiphoton process (in the sense that can add or annihilate more photons than a single transition allows), i.e. adding or subtracting several photons from the cavity field. By plotting the quadratures and the Husimi Q-function, we also show that the non-classical state produced by such measurements is a squeezed state.     

Interaction of Superpositions of Coherent States of Light with Two-level Atoms

Abstract

We investigate some of the basic features of the interaction of superpositions of coherent states of light with two-level atoms in the framework of the Jaynes-Cummings model. We compare the behaviour of the system in the case of having a coherent superposition state and a statistical mixture of coherent states as an initial field. We investigate the collapses and revivals of the atomic inversion by studying the evolution of the Q function of the cavity field. We also establish the connection between the purity of the field and the collapses and revivals of the atomic inversion.     

Conditional generation of non-classical states in a non-degenerate two-photon micromaser: Equal-intensity pair-Fock states preparation. I

Abstract

We present the theory underlying a new experimental scheme for the preparation of selected number states of a bimodal high-Q microcavity. The practical feasibility of this method is carefully discussed. In particular we take explicitly into account the existence of fluctuations of the atom–field interaction times as well as the possibility of imperfect atomic detection.     

Atomic Dipole Dynamics in the Thermal Quantized Cavity Field

Abstract

We consider the resonant interaction of a two-level atom with a thermal state of the quantized field in a lossless cavity. Non-trivial dynamics of the atomic dipole moment and the field quadrature components arise if the atom is initially prepared in a coherent superposition of its upper and lower states. In particular, the initial thermal field state acquires a well defined phase that corresponds to the initial phase of the superposition atomic state. Population trapping occurs when the intensity grows.     

Emission Spectra of a Two-level Atom Under the Presence of Another Two-level Atom

Abstract

We investigate the spectrum of light emitted by a two-level atom interacting with another two-level atom inside an ideal cavity within the frame of generalized Jaynes-Cummings model. The influence of various ratios of the coupling constants of the atoms to the field on the spectrum of the emitted light is studied in detail for the case when the atoms are supposed to be initially in the excited state and the field in a Fock state as well as their superposition.     

Interaction of Squeezed Light with Two-level Atoms

Abstract

We investigate some of the fundamental features of the interaction of squeezed light with two-level atoms in the framework of the Jaynes-Cummings model. We start our analysis by calculating the collapses and revivals of the atomic inversion. We discuss the degree of purity of the field (given by the entropy) and its disentanglement from the atomic source. The connection with the evolution of the Q-function is also made. We notice that contrary to the coherent state case, the field turns into a nearly pure (squeezed) state at the revival time as if the field was prepared in a coherent state. The field also becomes a superposition of squeezed states at half of the revival time, and this is confirmed by investigating the photon number distribution. The phase properties of the field are discussed using the Pegg-Barnett formalism.     

Interaction of a System of Initially Unexcited Two-level Atoms with a Weak Cavity Field

Abstract

Using a perturbation method, constructed in terms of SU(2) group representations, the interaction of N initially unexcited two-level atoms and a weak single-mode cavity field is studied. The field is assumed to be initially either in a Fock state with a number of photons equal to n or in a coherent state. In the case of the photon-number state with n  3, the pure phenomenon of collective collapses and revivals manifests itself. For the initially coherent field the phenomenon of collapses and revivals arising from the photon number distribution mechanism is additionally modulated by this collective mechanism. The problem of the interaction of excited atoms with an initially coherent field has already been solved numerically by Barnett and Knight. For n=1 2 and 3 the approximate solution is compared with the exact solutions also given in this paper and the limit of applicability of our approach is established.     

Quantum Optics with One Atom in an Optical Cavity

Abstract

The quantum mechanical master equation for a single two-level atom in a single-mode optical cavity is numerically solved in both the quantum and the semiclassical limits. The quantum limit of few cavity photons shows semiclassically forbidden behaviour such as steady state two-level population inversion. Qualitatively new fluorescent spectra, having sidebands broadened by the cavity interaction, also occur. The quantum theory of the single-atom laser with injected signal is presented. At the interface between its quantum and semiclassical dynamics we elucidate the signature of semiclassical limit cycles.     

Cooperativity and Entanglement of Atom-field States

Abstract

The Jaynes-Cummings model of a single two-level atom interacting with a quantized single-mode coherent field generates at the half-revival time a dynamically disentangled atom-field state. At such times, the field is in asymptotically pure Schrödinger cat state, a macroscopic superposition of distinct field eigenmodes. In this paper we address the problem of field purity when a second atom is allowed to interact with the cavity mode and becomes entangled with the first atom via their mutual cavity field with which they interact. We employ the collective Dicke states to describe the cooperative effects on the entanglement and show that the second atom spoils the purity of the field state except for special cases of the atom-field coupling or of initial conditions.     

The Damped-vacuum-field Jaynes-Cummings Model

Abstract

We study the dynamics of a two-level atom interacting with a single mode of a damped cavity at 0 K when the cavity is initially in the vacuum state and the atom enters it in an arbitrary (pure or mixed) state. A complete analytical solution of this simple model is presented. On the basis of this solution we firstly investigate the pseudo-spin dynamics of the atom and the cavity field, secondly give an illustration of the Araki-Lieb theorem concerning the von Neumann entropies of interacting quantum systems and thirdly demonstrate the generation of entangled states of the atom and cavity field that are of interest in connection with the Bell inequalities.     

Determining the state of a single cavity mode from photon statistics

Abstract

We present various schemes for measuring the quantum state of a single mode of the electromagnetic field. These involve measuring the photon statistics for the mode before and after an interaction with either one or two two-level atoms. The photon statistics conditioned on the final state of the atoms, for two choices of the initial set of atomic states, along with the initial photon statistics, may be used to calculate the complete quantum state in a simple manner. Alternatively, when one atom is used, two unconditioned sets of photon statistics, each after interaction with a single atom in different initial states, along with the initial photon statistics may be used to calculate the initial state in a simple manner. When the cavity is allowed to interact with just one atom, only pure cavity states which do not contain zeros in the photon distribution may be reconstructed. When two atoms are used we may reconstruct pure states which do not contain adjacent zeros in the photon distribution. Coherent states and number states are among those that may be measured with one-atom interaction, and squeezed states and ?Schrödinger cats‘ are among those that may be measured with a two-atom interaction.     

Entanglement-induced population trapping by Schrödinger's cat

Abstract

We propose an experiment that is a variation of the Schrödinger's cat ′paradox' wherein the entanglement between a microscopic system and a macroscopic system is of primary interest. The experiment involves tunable entanglement and serves as a model for controllable decoherence in the context of cavity quantum electrodynamics where atoms interact dispersively with a cavity field initially in a coherent state. The interaction produces an entanglement between the atom and the field, and the degree of entanglement can be probed by subjecting the atom to resonant classical radiation after it leaves the cavity. The amplitude of the resulting Rabi oscillations reflects the degree of the entanglement, there being no Rabi oscillations when the entanglement is maximum. We show that the cavity damping does not affect the experiment.     

Local entanglement in a bimodal high- Q cavity: Production and utilization

A new conditional scheme for entangling the two quantized modes of a bimodal high-Q cavity field is presented. We show that, injecting one at time k atoms inside the cavity, it is possible to guide the field toward k-dependent linear combinations of k + 1 bimodal Fock states, each one possessing the same total number of photons. The two simple cases corresponding to the passage of one or two atoms only through the resonator are considered. Their practical feasibility against cavity losses, spontaneous emission and other sources of imprecision of the experimental set-up is discussed. Two examples illustrating the usefulness of and the interest toward the creation of such a local entanglement, are reported. The first one relates the specific features of these bimodal entangled states to the occurrence of a non-classical correlation effect in the dynamics of a two-level atom interacting with the entangled cavity. The second one demonstrates that the peculiar entanglement initially stored in the cavity in accordance with our method, provides an effectively exploitable resource to entangle two spatially separated cavities.     

Effects of Atomic Coherence on Collapses and Revivals in the Binomial State of the Field

Abstract

The effects of the coherence between the states of a two-level atom on the phenomenon of collapses and revivals in an undamped binomial state of the electromagnetic field are investigated. It is found that the Rabi oscillations exhibit qualitatively different behaviour for different phases of coherence between the levels. This behaviour in the binomial state of the field is in contrast with that in a coherent state field, in which case the Rabi oscillations are qualitatively the same for all values of the coherence between the two atomic levels.     

Collapse-revival Phenomenon in the Jaynes-Cummings Model Interacting with the Multiphoton Holstein-Primakoff SU(2) Coherent State

Abstract

We have analysed the behaviour of the atomic population inversion of the two-level atom interacting with a single-mode field initially prepared in the multiphoton Holstein-Primakoff SU(2) coherent state. It is shown that the behaviour of the atomic inversion depends on the parameters characterizing the initial state of the field. In particular, the atomic inversion can exhibit periodical oscillations as well as the collapse-revival phenomenon.