Tomographic Description of a Quantum Wave Packet in an Accelerated Frame

The tomography of a single quantum particle (i.e., a quantum wave packet) in an accelerated frame is studied. We write the Schrödinger equation in a moving reference frame in which acceleration is uniform in space and an arbitrary function of time. Then, we reduce such a problem to the study of spatiotemporal evolution of the wave packet in an inertial frame in the presence of a homogeneous force field but with an arbitrary time dependence. We demonstrate the existence of a Gaussian wave packet solution, for which the position and momentum uncertainties are unaffected by the uniform force field. This implies that, similar to in the case of a force-free motion, the uncertainty product is unaffected by acceleration. In addition, according to the Ehrenfest theorem, the wave packet centroid moves according to classic Newton’s law of a particle experiencing the effects of uniform acceleration. Furthermore, as in free motion, the wave packet exhibits a diffraction spread in the configuration space but not in momentum space. Then, using Radon transform, we determine the quantum tomogram of the Gaussian state evolution in the accelerated frame. Finally, we characterize the wave packet evolution in the accelerated frame in terms of optical and simplectic tomogram evolution in the related tomographic space.     

Electronic wave packets in vacuum photodetectors and the possibility of observing them

The motion of an electronic wave packet in the interelectrode space of a vacuum photodetector is investigated. It is shown that the dimensions of such a packet are of the order of 1 micron and are comparable to the optical wavelength. On interacting with a powerful laser pulse the packet scatters a large number of photons and is deflected from its initial trajectory. Both effects can be used to determine the parameters of an electronic wave packet. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 63, No. 6, 408–411 (25 March 1996)     

Diffraction of the wave packet of a three-level Λ atom in the field of a multifrequency standing light wave

The diffraction of the wave packet of a three-level atom in a multifrequency optical radiation field is studied. A new type of coherent beam splitter for atoms that employs the scattering of a wave packet in the field of four standing light waves with different spatial shifts is proposed on this basis. It is shown that this interaction scheme makes it possible to obtain large splittings (>100ℏk) of the wave packet of a three-level Λ atom in momentum space into only two coherent components. In addition, the atoms in these coherent components are in long-lived atomic states, which substantially simplifies the experimental implementation of such a splitter. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 66, No. 6, 386–391 (25 September 1997)     

2-Soliton-Solution of the Novikov-Veselov Equation

Based on a superposition method recently proposed to obtain 1-solitary wave solutions of the KdV-Burgers equation (Yuanxi and Jiashi, 2005, International Journal of Theoretical Physics 44, 293–301), we show that this method can also be used to find a 2-solitary wave solution of the Novikov-Veselov equation. Thus, it seems that the method of Yuanxi and Jiashi in general is not restricted to constructing 1-solitary wave solutions of nonlinear wave and evolution equations (NLWEEs).     

Computational study of cold ions trapped in a double-well potential

We report a rigorous computational treatment of quantum dynamics of cold ions in a double-well trap using the time-dependent Schrödinger equation. Our method employs a numerically accurate approach that avoids approximations, such as assumption of weak coupling between the wells; normal mode nature of vibrations; or harmonic approximation for energy spectrum of the double-well system. Our goal is to reproduce, from first principles, the process of energy swaps between the wells observed in the experiments at NIST [Nature 471, 196 (2011)] and Innsbruck [Nature 471, 200 (2011)]. The model parameters and the initial conditions are carefully chosen to mimic experimental conditions. We obtain accurate energies and wave functions of the system numerically, and study the evolution of motional wave packets to provide new insight. This model reproduces experimental results obtained by NIST and Innsbruck in detail. We explain the energy transfer in terms of wave packet dynamics in the asymmetric potential energy well. We also show that, for a localised initial wave packet, this phenomenon can be interpreted using the terms of classical dynamics, such as trajectory of motion governed by the well-known simple principle: the angle of reflection equals the angle of incidence.     

Bragg reflection during the propagation of magnetoelastic microwave pulses in a structure consisting of a ferrite thin film on a dielectric substrate

The propagation of a microwave pulse in a ferrite thin film-substrate structure in a regime of rereflections (“ringing”) of the acoustic component of the substrate is studied theoretically. It is shown that as a result of the interaction of microwave pulses with the boundaries of the substrate, propagation of a microwave excitation in this system can be regarded as a propagation of a wave packet in a periodic nonuniform medium. The basic characteristics of a propagating wave packet are obtained. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 69, 82–86 (December 1999)     

Quantum theory of impurity migration in crystals

A quantum theory of impurity migration in crystals is proposed. The impurity state is taken in the form of a wave packet constructed out of its Bloch states in the host lattice. Its time evolution is studied including its interaction with the host lattice phonons. A correspondence is established between the classical diffusion equation and the time evolution of the probability density arising out of the impurity wave packet. The diffusion coefficient D_T and trapping rate γ_T are related to the imaginary part of the energy shift of the impurity caused by its interaction with phonons. The detailed calculations are carried out using second order perturbation theory for the energy shift. The Debye model for the host lattice and effective mass approximation for the impurity band are used. At low temperature D_T is found to be proportional to_T3/2, and at high temperature the Arrhenius formula of Vineyard is obtained. The estimated migration energy for μ⁺ migration in bcc metals agrees reasonably with the experimental values.     

Interaction of Ultracold Neutrons with a Neutron Interference Filter Oscillating in Space

The problem of the interaction of ultracold neutrons with a neutron interference filter oscillating in space is investigated. In the problem, the evolution of the wave packet is considered by means of numerically solving the non-stationary Schrödinger equation by splitting the evolution operator. The filter oscillating in space acts as a quantum modulator of the ultracold neutron flux. The resulting spectra of the transmitted and reflected states are obtained depending on the motion parameters of the interferometer.     

Wave Packets in a Magnetic Field

A Gaussian wave packet confined to move on a plane perpendicular to a magnetic field remains a Gaussian wave packet in its time evolution. The average position and momentum follow the Ehrenfest equations which are identical to the classical Hamilton equations. A set of nonlinear equations decoupled from the Ehrenfest equation is derived for the parameters describing the time evolution of the density distribution and phases of a wave packet. Explicit solutions are then obtained when the "internal" angular momentum of the wave packet vanishes. In this case it is shown that the motion of the wave packet is a superposition of a translational motion, a rotation and a vibration.     

Resonant interaction of an electromagnetic wave with an inhomogeneous plasma slab

Resonant interaction at oblique incidence of an electromagnetic wave on an inhomogeneous plasma slab is studied. The time evolution of this interaction is solved numerically from two-fluid equations, adiabatic equation for electron pressure and from Maxwell equations. It is shown that the electromagnetic energy of an incident wave is transformed both into the heat energy and into the energy of plasma oscillations in the direction of density gradient. The distribution of the transformed energy between the heat energy and the energy of plasma oscillations is strongly dependent on the plasma temperature. The ratio of heat energy to the energy of plasma oscillations is growing with growing temperature. The plasma oscillations are generated by magnetic induction of the penetrating wave. In a cold plasma they are generated especially in the overdense region and their frequency is equal to local plasma frequency. The electric field in the direction of plasma gradient has a form of a wave packet whose envelope reaches a maximum at resonance. The characteristic wavelength in the wave packet decreases and the amplitude of the packet increases with the time.     

Superrelativity as an element of a final theory

The ordinary quantum theory points out that general relativity (GR) is negligible for spatial distances up to the Planck scale l_P=(hG/c³)^1/2∼10⁻³³cm. Consistency in the foundations of the quantum theory requires a “soft” spacetime structure of the GR at essentially longer length. However, for some reasons this appears to be not enough. A new framework (“superrelativity”) for the desirable generalization of the foundation of quantum theory is proposed. A generalized nonlinear Klein-Gordon equation has been derived in order to shape a stable wave packet.     

Evolution of the width of the wave packet of a charged particle interacting with a quantum electromagnetic field

The path integral method is used to study the width of the wave packet of a relativistic charged particle interacting with a quantum electromagnetic field. A general expression is derived for the density distribution of a particle moving in arbitrary external potentials. An electron synchrotron with weak focusing is studied as a specific example, and the width of the wave packet of an electron moving in this accelerator is found. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 111, 1563–1578 (May 1997)     

Influence of laser fields on the vibrational population of molecules and its wave-packet dynamical investigation

The time-dependent wave packet method is used to investigate the influence of laser-fields on the vibrational population of molecules.For a two-state system in laser fields,the populations on different vibrational levels of the upper and lower electronic states are given by wavefunctions obtained by solving the Schro¨dinger equation with the splitoperator method.The calculation shows that the field parameters,such as intensity,wavelength,duration,and delay time etc.can have different influences on the vibrational population.By varying the laser parameters appropriately one can control the evolution of wave packet and so the vibrational population in each state,which will benefit the light manipulation of atomic and molecular processes.     

The Construction of Dirac Wave Packets for a Fermionic Particle Non-Minimally Coupling with an External Magnetic Field

We shall proceed with the construction of normalizable Dirac wave packets for fermionic particles (neutrinos) with dynamics governed by a “modified” Dirac equation with a non-minimal coupling with an external magnetic field. We are not only interested on the analytic solutions of the “modified” Dirac wave equation but also on the construction of Dirac wave packets which can be used for describing the dynamics of some observable physical quantities which are relevant in the context of the quantum oscillation phenomena. To conclude, we discuss qualitatively the applicability of this formal construction in the treatment of chiral (and flavor) oscillations in the theoretical context of neutrino physics. PACS numbers: 02.30.Cj, 03.65.Pm     

Wave packet splitting and zitterbewegung in two-dimensional semiconductor structures with spin-orbit coupling

Dynamics of electron wave packets in an asymmetric quantum well in the presence of Rashba spinorbit coupling was analytically and numerically studied. Electron Green’s functions were introduced and the evolution of 1D and 2D wave packets was studied. The effect of packet splitting caused by the presence of two branches with different chiralities in the Rashba Hamiltonian spectrum and zitterbewegung, i.e., packet center’s jitter, was studied. Spatial components of the spin density were calculated. It was shown that the component of the spin density S _y in split parts of the wave packet has opposite signs, and two other spin density components oscillate in space between scattering packets.     

Multipole solutions of the wave equation

The wave equation is solved by the operator separation method proposed in V. V. Zashkvara and N. N. Tyndyk, Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 61(4), 148 (1991) [Sov. Phys. Tech. Phys. 36, 456 (1991)]. Solutions describing the evolution of circular-multipole fields are obtained in a cylindrical coordinate system. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 68, 9–14 (June 1998) Deceased.     

Transmission times of wave packets tunneling through barriers

The transmission of wave packets through barriers by tunneling is studied in detail by the method of quantum molecular dynamics. The distribution of the arrival times of a tunneling packet in front of and behind a barrier and the momentum distribution function of the packet are calculated. The average position and average momentum of the packet and their spread are investigated. It is found that below the barrier a part of the packet is reflected, and a Gaussian barrier increases the average momentum of the transmitted packet and its spread in momentum space. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 115, 1872–1889 (May 1999)     

Theory of transfer with delay for trapping of nonstationary acoustic radiation in a resonant randomly inhomogeneous medium

The propagation of a quasimonochromatic wave packet of acoustic radiation in a discrete randomly-inhomogeneous medium under the condition that the carrier frequency of the packet is close to the resonance frequency of Mie scattering by an isolated scatterer is studied. The two-frequency Bethe-Salpeter equation in the form of an exact kinetic equation that takes account of the accumulation of the acoustic energy of the radiation inside the scatterers is taken as the initial equation. This kinetic equation is simplified by using the model of resonant point scatterers, the approximation of low scatterer density, and the Fraunhofer approximation in the theory of multiple scattering of waves. This leads to a new transport equation for nonstationary radiation with three Lorentzian delay kernels. In contrast to the well-known Sobolev radiative transfer equation with one Lorentzian delay kernel, the new transfer equation takes account of the accumulation of radiation energy inside the scatterers and is consistent with the Poynting theorem for nonstationary acoustic radiation. The transfer equation obtained with three Lorentzian delay kernels is used to study the Compton-Milne effect—trapping of a pulse of acoustic radiation diffusely reflected from a semi-infinite resonant randomly-inhomogeneous medium, when the pulse can spend most of its propagation time in the medium being “trapped” inside the scatterers. This specific albedo problem for the transfer equation obtained is solved by applying a generalized nonstationary invariance principle. As a result, the function describing the scattering of a diffusely reflected pulse can be expressed in terms of a generalized nonstationary Chandrasekhar H-function, satisfying a nonlinear integral equation. Simple analytical asymptotic expressions are found for the scattering function for the leading and trailing edges of a diffusely reflected δ-pulse as functions of time, the reflection angle, the mean scattering time of the radiation, the elementary delay time, and the parameter describing the accumulation of radiation energy inside the scatterers. These asymptotic expressions demonstrate quantitatively the retardation of the growth of the leading edge and the retardation of the decay of the trailing edge of a diffusely reflected δ-pulse when the conventional radiative transfer regime goes over to a regime of radiation trapping in a resonant randomly-inhomogeneous medium. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 113, 432–444 (February 1998)     

Bohmian trajectories of Airy packets

The discovery of Berry and Balazs in 1979 that the free-particle Schrödinger equation allows a non-dispersive and accelerating Airy-packet solution has taken the folklore of quantum mechanics by surprise. Over the years, this intriguing class of wave packets has sparked enormous theoretical and experimental activities in related areas of optics and atom physics. Within the Bohmian mechanics framework, we present new features of Airy wave packet solutions to Schrödinger equation with time-dependent quadratic potentials. In particular, we provide some insights to the problem by calculating the corresponding Bohmian trajectories. It is shown that by using general space–time transformations, these trajectories can display a unique variety of cases depending upon the initial position of the individual particle in the Airy wave packet. Further, we report here a myriad of nontrivial Bohmian trajectories associated to the Airy wave packet. These new features are worth introducing to the subject’s theoretical folklore in light of the fact that the evolution of a quantum mechanical Airy wave packet governed by the Schrödinger equation is analogous to the propagation of a finite energy Airy beam satisfying the paraxial equation. Numerous experimental configurations of optics and atom physics have shown that the dynamics of Airy beams depends significantly on initial parameters and configurations of the experimental set-up.     

Experimental scheme for quantum teleportation of a one-photon packet

A complete protocol and an optical scheme for experimental implementation of the quantum teleportation of an unknown one-photon wave packet are proposed. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 68, No. 3, 248–254 (10 August 1998)