Nonclassical properties and algebraic characteristics of negative binomial states in quantized radiation fields

We study the nonclassical properties and algebraic characteristics of the negative binomial states introduced by Barnett recently. The ladder operator formalism and displacement operator formalism of the negative binomial states are found and the algebra involved turns out to be the SU(1,1) Lie algebra via the generalized Holstein-Primarkoff realization. These states are essentially Perelomov's SU(1,1) coherent states. We reveal their connection with the geometric states and find that they are excited geometric states. As intermediate states, they interpolate between the number states and geometric states. We also point out that they can be recognized as the nonlinear coherent states. Their nonclassical properties, such as sub-Poissonian distribution and squeezing effect are discussed. The quasiprobability distributions in phase space, namely the Q and Wigner functions, are studied in detail. We also propose two methods of generation of the negative binomial states. d 32.80.Pj Optical cooling of atoms; trapping Received 8 May 1999 and Received in final form 8 November 1999     

Quantum state engineering using conditional measurement on a beam splitter

State preparation via conditional output measurement on a beam splitter is studied, assuming the signal mode is mixed with a mode prepared in a Fock state and photon numbers are measured in one of the output channels. It is shown that the mode in the other output channel is prepared in either a photon-subtracted or a photon-added Jacobi polynomial state, depending upon the difference between the number of photons in the input Fock state and the number of photons in the output Fock state onto which it is projected. The properties of the conditional output states are studied for coherent and squeezed input states, and the probabilities of generating the states are calculated. Relations to other states, such as near-photon-number states and squeezed-state-excitations, are given and proposals are made for generating them by combining the scheme with others. Finally, effects of realistic photocounting and Fock-state preparation are discussed. Received: 17 March 1998 / Revised and Accepted: 8 May 1998     

Generation of superpositions of coherent states on a circle

We propose a simple method to obtain a superposition of coherent states on a circle, including Schr?dinger cat states as a special case, via conditional measurement of the state of three level atoms interacting with a one mode cavity field. In the low amplitude limit, very good approximation of Fock states can also be generated in this way. Received: 8 October 1998 / Accepted: 30 October 1998     

Steady-state populations of a driven three-level atom in a broad-band squeezed vacuum

A theoretical study is made of the steady-state populations of a three-level atom in a ladder configuration, driven by a superposition of a monochromatic laser wave with a broad-band squeezed vacuum. The master equation for the system and the atomic Bloch equations are derived. The steady-state populations are calculated numerically and shown graphically as functions of two-photon detuning for various cases of the squeezed vacuum. It is shown that, the atomic populations depend strongly on the relative phase of the driving field and the squeezed vacuum. When the phase matching condition is fulfilled, there will be a strong two-photon resonant absorption from the squeezed vacuum, a characteristic different from absorption of photons from a classical field. Received: 28 May 1997 / Revised and Accepted: 10 December 1997     

Eigenstates of boson creation operator

We examine the existence of right-hand eigenstates (or eigenkets) of the boson creation operator a and determine their coordinate and their Bargmann representation. The eigenkets of the creation operator are ultrasingular and cannot be considered as a limiting case of normalizable states. Applications of these eigenstates as auxiliary states for purposes of representation of states by path integrals over coherent states are discussed. A completeness relation for coherent states on paths through the complex plane is derived and special examples of its application are considered. Received 9 March 2001 and Received in final form 13 June 2001     

Atomic-dipole squeezing for arbitrarily prepared atom and field in multi-photon interaction

Summary The atomic-dipole squeezing condition for arbitrarily prepared atomic and field states in multi-photon Jaynes-Cummings model was derived. Three special cases were discussed. For the field initially in a vacuum state and a certain eigenstate of the Susskind-Glogower phase operator, the analytical dipole squeezing conditions were obtained and the maximum squeezing values were calculated. For a squeezed vacuum input field, the dipole squeezing behaviours under the influence of the field squeezing parameterr and the phased atom were numerically treated.     

Effect of the initial phase of the field in ionization by ultrashort laser pulses

We report on observable new features related to ionization of atoms by laser pulses of only few cycles and some intensity. We show that for particular photo-electron energies, the angular distribution becomes asymmetric and that this asymmetry is related to the initial phase of the field. Received: 4 November 1997/Revised: 21 January 1998/Accepted: 23 February 1998     

Generation of superpositions of coherent states of the motion of a trapped ion

We propose a method for preparing superpositions of coherent states of the motion of an ion in an anisotropic two-dimensional trap, in which the ion is tightly bound in the y direction. In the scheme the ion is excited by two resonant laser beams with equal amplitude, propagating along the x and y directions, respectively. In the Dicke-Lamb limit, an initial coherent state of the ion motion can be converted into a superposition of several coherent states on a circle through the laser-ion interactions and state-selective measurements on the ion. Received: 30 May 1997 / Revised: 29 July 1997 / Accepted: 22 October 1997     

Spontaneous emission from a three-level atom embedded in an anisotropic photonic crystal

We study the spontaneous emission properties of a V-type three-level atom embedded in a photonic crystal with the anisotropic dispersion relation. We show that the localized field can disappear and the diffusion field can become intense in some regions. This originates from no singularity of the density of states. The quantum interference leads to oscillatory, quasi-oscillatory or complete decay behavior of population. The complete decay can also be realized in certain condition without depending on the initial state. Received 9 April 2000 and Received in final form 1st August 2000     

Environment-induced nonclassical behaviour

We analyze the transient nonclassical behaviour of a single-mode field whose interaction with an environment is governed by the quantum optical master equation. Our analytic method makes use of the generalized characteristic function of the field state. First, we find a time at which all squeezing effects disappear by decoherence regardless of the initial state of the mode. In the case of an input even coherent state, an unusual modification of higher-order squeezing at low values of thermal mean occupancy transferred to the field is found and discussed. For the same initial state, we also perform a comprehensive analysis of the mixing process during the interaction with the reservoir. We prove that a maximum in the evolution of the 2-entropy of the attenuated mode exists on condition that its initial mean photon number exceeds the mean occupancy of the reservoir. This transient mixing enhancement can be considered as a quantum effect of the initial state on the mode damping. Received 22 April 1999 and Received in final form 2 November 1999     

Calculation of quantum correlation spectra using the regression theorem

We present a simple method, based on the quantum regression theorem, to calculate the quantum correlation spectra for two optical beams in the linearized fluctuation regime. As an application, we discuss the dynamical instability, the squeezing spectra and the QND properties of a crossed Kerr-type dispersive model. Received 30 August 1999 and Received in final form 4 July 2000     

Squeezed two-mode lasers without and with inversion

On the basis of the nondegenerate quantum-beat laser model, we introduce a coherent field which drives the transition between the upper lasing level and an auxiliary level. We demonstrate that such a four-level system can produce squeezed two-mode laser without and with inversion. When the laser is operated well above threshold, the intensity fluctuation in the average mode is reduced below the shot noise with an optimum Mandel parameter Q=- 1/2. At the same time, the noises in the relative amplitude and the relative phase drop to their vaccum noise levels. Furthermore, regardless of inversion, noninversion, and transition between inversion and noninversion, the optimum Mandel Q parameter of Q=- 1/2 is retained when the system operates well above threshold. A simple physical explanation of the squeezing mechanism for two-mode squeezing is given. Received: 22 December 1997 / Revised: 25 March 1998 / Accepted: 9 September 1998     

Detecting quantum signatures of optical fields by ultrasmall Josephson junctions

We prove that a mesoscopic Josephson junction, irradiated with a quantum superposition of two -out of phase optical coherent states, exhibits an experimentally observable sensitivity to the quantum coherences of the field state. Received 1 June 1999 and Received in final form 30 July 1999     

Quantum theory of rotation angles: The problem of angle sum and angle difference

We reconsider the problem of the sum and difference of two angle variables in quantum mechanics. The spectra of the sum and difference operators have widths of , but angles differing by are indistinguishable. This means that the angle sum and difference probability distributions must be cast into a range. We obtain probability distributions for the angle sum and difference and relate this problem to the representation of nonbijective canonical transformations. Received: 6 December 1997 / Revised: 15 April 1998 / Accepted: 7 May 1998     

Quantum backaction of optical observations on Bose-Einstein condensates

Impressive pictures of moving Bose-Einstein condensates have been taken using phase-contrast imaging [M.R. Andrews et al., Science 273, 84 (1996)]. We calculate the quantum backaction of this measurement technique, assuming the absence of residual absorption. We find that the condensate gets gradually depleted at a universal rate that is proportional to the light intensity and to the inverse cube of the optical wave length. The fewer atoms are condensed the higher is the required intensity to see a picture, and, consequently, the higher is the induced backaction. To describe the quantum physics of phase-contrast imaging we put forward a new approach to quantum-optical propagation. We develop an effective field theory of paraxial optics in a fully quantized atomic medium. Received 25 February 1999     

Quantum images in non degenerate optical parametric oscillators

Quantum images, that is inhomogeneous field distributions purely generated by quantum fluctuations, persist when passing from the degenerate to the non-degenerate case of optical parametric oscillators (OPO). Below the threshold for parametric oscillation where the near-field distributions are homogeneous both in intensity and phase, appropriate spatial correlation functions anticipate the transverse spatial pattern that appears above threshold. In particular, the angular dependence of the far field spatial correlation function is able to reveal the travelling-wave nature of the phase pattern above threshold typical of nondegenerate OPOs. Cross-correlation functions between signal and idler intensities show clear evidence of the non-classical nature of the output light. Received 8 October 1999     

Evolution of cat states in a dissipative parametric amplifier: decoherence and entanglement

The evolution of the Schr?dinger-cat states in a dissipative parametric amplifier is examined. The main tool in the analysis is the normally ordered characteristic function. Squeezing, photon-number distribution and reduced factorial moments are discussed for the single- and compound-mode cases. Also the single-mode Wigner function is demonstrated. In addition to the decoherence resulting from the interaction with the environment (damped case) there are two sources which can cause such decoherence in the system even if it is completely isolated: these are the decay of the pump and the relative phases of the initial cat states. Furthermore, for the damped case there are two regimes, which are underdamped and overdamped. In the first (second) regime the signal mode or the idler mode “collapses" to a statistical mixture (thermal field). Received 25 September 2001 / Received in final form 30 May 2002 Published online 13 December 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: sebaweh@awalnet.net.sa RID="b" ID="b"Joint Laboratory of Optics of Palacky University and Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 17. listopadu 50, 772 07 Olomouc, Czech Republic.     

On the observation of decoherence with a movable mirror

Following almost a century of debate on possible “independent of measurement" elements of reality, or “induced" elements of reality - originally invoked as an ad-hoc collapse postulate, we propose a novel line of interference experiments which may be able to examine the regime of induced elements of reality. At the basis of the proposed experiment, lies the hypothesis that models of “induced" elements of reality should exhibit symmetry breaking within quantum evolution. The described symmetry experiment is thus aimed at being able to detect and resolve spatial symmetry breaking signatures. The proposed experiment stands at the edge of present day technological abilities and will be, so we believe, realizable in the near future. Received 2 December 1999 and Received in final form 6 April 2000     

Statistical properties of the output of linear amplifier with superpositions of squeezed displaced Fock states as an input state

The s-parameterized characteristic function for the output field with the superposition of squeezed displaced Fock states (SDFS's) as input field is given. The s-ordered distribution functions for the output field with superposition of SDFS's as input state are investigated. Various moments are calculated by using the s-ordered characteristic function for that field. The Glauber second-order coherence function is calculated. The quadrature squeezing for the output field are discussed. Some Quasiprobability distribution functions of the output fields are plotted as functions of the interaction time. The quadrature squeezing for the output field are discussed. Received 30 September 1998