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arXiv:1407.8090 · Physical Review A

Classical stochastic measurement trajectories: Bosonic atomic gases in an optical cavity and quantum measurement backaction

Mark D. Lee, Janne Ruostekoski

Published Aug 22, 2014• 36 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We formulate computationally efficient classical stochastic measurement trajectories for a multimode quantum system under continuous observation. Specifically, we consider the nonlinear dynamics of an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate contained within an optical cavity subject to continuous monitoring of the light leaking out of the cavity. The classical trajectories encode within a classical phase-space representation a continuous quantum measurement process conditioned on a given detection record. We derive a Fokker-Planck equation for the quasiprobability distribution of the combined condensate-cavity system. We unravel the dynamics into stochastic classical trajectories that are conditioned on the quantum measurement process of the continuously monitored system. Since the dynamics of a continuously measured observable in a many-atom system can be closely approximated by classical dynamics, the method provides a numerically efficient and accurate approach to calculate the measurement record of a large multimode quantum system. Numerical simulations of the continuously monitored dynamics of a large atom cloud reveal considerably fluctuating phase profiles between different measurement trajectories, while ensemble averages exhibit local spatially varying phase decoherence. Individual measurement trajectories lead to spatial pattern formation and optomechanical motion that solely result from the measurement backaction. The backaction of the continuous quantum measurement process, conditioned on the detection record of the photons, spontaneously breaks the symmetry of the spatial profile of the condensate and can be tailored to selectively excite collective modes.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.90.023628

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We formulate computationally efficient classical stochastic measurement trajectories for a multimode quantum system under continuous observation. Specifically, we consider the nonlinear dynamics of an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate contained within an optical cavity subject to continuous monitoring of the light leaking out of the cavity. The classical trajectories encode within a classical phase-space representation a continuous quantum measurement process conditioned on a given detection record. We derive a Fokker-Planck equation for the quasiprobability distribution of the combined condensate-cavity system. We unravel the dynamics into stochastic classical trajectories that are conditioned on the quantum measurement process of the continuously monitored system. Since the dynamics of a continuously measured observable in a many-atom system can be closely approximated by classical dynamics, the method provides a numerically efficient and accurate approach to calculate the measurement record of a large multimode quantum system. Numerical simulations of the continuously monitored dynamics of a large atom cloud reveal considerably fluctuating phase profiles between different measurement trajectories, while ensemble averages exhibit local spatially varying phase decoherence. Individual measurement trajectories lead to spatial pattern formation and optomechanical motion that solely result from the measurement backaction. The backaction of the continuous quantum measurement process, conditioned on the detection record of the photons, spontaneously breaks the symmetry of the spatial profile of the condensate and can be tailored to selectively excite collective modes.
We study cavity quantum electrodynamics of Bose-condensed atoms that are subjected to continuous monitoring of the light leaking out of the cavity. Due to a given detection record of each stochastic realization, individual runs spontaneously break the symmetry of the spatial profile of the atom cloud and this symmetry can be restored by considering ensemble averages over many realizations. We show that the cavity optomechanical excitations of the condensate can be engineered to target specific collective modes. This is achieved by exploiting the spatial structure and symmetries of the collective modes and light fields. The cavity fields can be utilized both for strong driving of the collective modes and for their measurement. In the weak excitation limit the condensate–cavity system may be employed as a sensitive phonon detector which operates by counting photons outside the cavity that have been selectively scattered by desired phonons.
We study cavity quantum electrodynamics of Bose-condensed atoms that are subjected to continuous monitoring of the light leaking out of the cavity. Due to a given detection record of each stochastic realization, individual runs spontaneously break the symmetry of the spatial profile of the atom cloud and this symmetry can be restored by considering ensemble averages over many realizations. We show that the cavity optomechanical excitations of the condensate can be engineered to target specific collective modes. This is achieved by exploiting the spatial structure and symmetries of the collective modes and light fields. The cavity fields can be utilized both for strong driving of the collective modes and for their measurement. In the weak excitation limit the condensate–cavity system may be employed as a sensitive phonon detector which operates by counting photons outside the cavity that have been selectively scattered by desired phonons.
We consider a small F=1F=1F=1 spinor condensate inside an optical cavity driven by an optical probe field, and subject the output of the probe to a homodyne detection, with the goal of investigating the effect of measurement backaction on the spin dynamics of the condensate. Using the stochastic master equation approach, we show that the effect of backaction is sensitive to not only the measurement strength but also the quantum fluctuation of the spinor condensate. The same method is also used to estimate the atom numbers below which the effect of backaction becomes so prominent that extracting spin dynamics from this cavity-based detection scheme is no longer practical.
We study the atom-light interaction in the fully quantum regime, with the focus on off-resonant light scattering into a cavity from ultracold atoms trapped in an optical lattice. Because of the global coupling between the atoms and the light modes, observing the photons leaking from the cavity allows the quantum nondemolition (QND) measurement of quantum correlations of the atomic ensemble, distinguishing between different quantum states. Moreover, the detection of the photons perturbs the quantum state of the atoms via the so-called measurement backaction. This effect constitutes an unusual additional dynamical source in a many-body strongly correlated system and it is able to efficiently compete with its intrinsic short-range dynamics. This competition becomes possible due to the ability to change the spatial profile of a global measurement at a microscopic scale comparable to the lattice period, without the need of single site addressing. We demonstrate nontrivial dynamical effects such as large-scale multimode oscillations, breakup and protection of strongly interacting fermion pairs. We show that measurement backaction can be exploited for realizing quantum states with spatial modulations of the density and magnetization, thus overcoming usual requirement for a strong interatomic interactions. We propose detection schemes for implementing antiferromagnetic states and density waves and we demonstrate that such long-range correlations cannot be realized with local addressing. Finally, we describe how to stabilize these emerging phases with the aid of quantum feedback. Such a quantum optical approach introduces into many-body physics novel processes, objects, and methods of quantum engineering, including the design of many-body entangled environments for open systems and it is easily extendable to other systems promising for quantum technologies.
Abstract Starting from an experimentally feasible atomic setup, we derive a stochastic Schrödinger equation that captures the homodyne detection record of a strongly interacting system. Applying the rotating wave approximation to the linear atom-light coupling, we arrive at a reduced equation formulated solely in terms of atomic operators. In the appropriate limit, this equation converges to that of Gaussian continuous quantum measurement—revealing that the complexities of real-world detection can, under certain conditions, echo the elegance of idealized theory. To illustrate the utility of this framework, we numerically study the Bose–Hubbard model under continuous observation, showing that time-domain analysis of the measurement signal uncovers rich dynamical features, including quantum jumps, that are obscured in ensemble-averaged spectral data.
In contrast to the fully projective limit of strong quantum measurement, where the evolution is locked to a small subspace (quantum Zeno dynamics), or even frozen completely (quantum Zeno effect), the weak non-projective measurement can effectively compete with standard unitary dynamics leading to nontrivial effects. Here we consider global weak measurement addressing collective variables, thus preserving quantum superpositions due to the lack of which path information. While for certainty we focus on ultracold atoms, the idea can be generalized to other multimode quantum systems, including various quantum emitters, optomechanical arrays, and purely photonic systems with multiple-path interferometers (photonic circuits). We show that light scattering from ultracold bosons in optical lattices can be used for defining macroscopically occupied spatial modes that exhibit long-range coherent dynamics. Even if the measurement strength remains constant, the quantum measurement backaction acts on the atomic ensemble quasi-periodically and induces collective oscillatory dynamics of all the atoms. We introduce an effective model for the evolution of the spatial modes and present an analytic solution showing that the quantum jumps drive the system away from its stable point. We confirm our finding describing the atomic observables in terms of stochastic differential equations.