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arXiv:2003.01471 · Entropy

Entropy Dynamics of Phonon Quantum States Generated by Optical Excitation of a Two-Level System

Thilo Hahn, Daniel Wigger, Tilmann Kuhn

Published Feb 29, 2020• 3 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

In quantum physics, two prototypical model systems stand out due to their wide range of applications. These are the two-level system (TLS) and the harmonic oscillator. The former is often an ideal model for confined charge or spin systems and the latter for lattice vibrations, i.e., phonons. Here, we couple these two systems, which leads to numerous fascinating physical phenomena. Practically, we consider different optical excitations and decay scenarios of a TLS, focusing on the generated dynamics of a single phonon mode that couples to the TLS. Special emphasis is placed on the entropy of the different parts of the system, predominantly the phonons. While, without any decay, the entire system is always in a pure state, resulting in a vanishing entropy, the complex interplay between the single parts results in non-vanishing respective entanglement entropies and non-trivial dynamics of them. Taking a decay of the TLS into account leads to a non-vanishing entropy of the full system and additional aspects in its dynamics. We demonstrate that all aspects of the entropy's behavior can be traced back to the purity of the states and are illustrated by phonon Wigner functions in phase space.

DOI
10.3390/e22030286

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In quantum physics, two prototypical model systems stand out due to their wide range of applications. These are the two-level system (TLS) and the harmonic oscillator. The former is often an ideal model for confined charge or spin systems and the latter for lattice vibrations, i.e., phonons. Here, we couple these two systems, which leads to numerous fascinating physical phenomena. Practically, we consider different optical excitations and decay scenarios of a TLS, focusing on the generated dynamics of a single phonon mode that couples to the TLS. Special emphasis is placed on the entropy of the different parts of the system, predominantly the phonons. While, without any decay, the entire system is always in a pure state, resulting in a vanishing entropy, the complex interplay between the single parts results in non-vanishing respective entanglement entropies and non-trivial dynamics of them. Taking a decay of the TLS into account leads to a non-vanishing entropy of the full system and additional aspects in its dynamics. We demonstrate that all aspects of the entropy's behavior can be traced back to the purity of the states and are illustrated by phonon Wigner functions in phase space.
The dynamics of a two-level system (TLS) coupled to a harmonic oscillator (HO) is studied under the combined effect of a thermal bath acting on the HO and of a detector continuously measuring one of the components of the spinlike TLS. The analysis focuses on the dynamics of the ``relative entropy of entanglement'' (REE) in the one-energy-excitation manifold of the reduced TLS+HO\text{TLS}+\text{HO}TLS+HO system. For this model system, a stationary state is shown to be reached for which the relative entropy of entanglement is in general nonzero, even though, under certain approximations, the separate effects of bath and detector would be to remove any trace of this resource from the system. Analytical as well as numerical results are obtained for the REE as a function of the different parameters involved in the model definition.
We investigate the quantum entanglement dynamics of two coupled harmonic oscillators with a time-dependent interaction. Using the Lewis-Riesenfeld invariant method, we derive the exact analytical wave functions without any perturbative or adiabatic approximations and combine this with a phase-space analysis using the Wigner function to provide a complete description of the system's quantum state evolution. We obtain general expression form for the purity and the linear entropy SL=1−PS_L=1-\mathcal{P}SL​=1−P for arbitrary excitation numbers (n,m)(n,m)(n,m), allows a systematic study of entanglement for a large class of quantum states. We show that the entanglement dynamics is very sensitive to the interplay between the detuning parameters θθθ and ϑ2\vartheta_2ϑ2​, the frequency parameter β0β_0β0​ and the coupling strength εεε: the increase of detuning takes the system from slow irregular oscillations to fast and regular periodic behavior, and the stronger coupling systematically enhances both the amplitude and the average value of the linear entropy. Most importantly, for the resonance case ω1=ω2=1ω_1=ω_2=1ω1​=ω2​=1 and strong couplings ε≈0.99ε\approx 0.99ε≈0.99, the system shows robust undamped synchronized periodic oscillations of the linear entropy for all quantum states considered, indicating preserved quantum coherence without saturation. Our findings demonstrate that linear entropy is a sensitive and practical entanglement witness, and we establish explicit analytical relations between the coupling parameters of the system and its entanglement properties, which are directly relevant to quantum information processing and the control of quantum correlations in continuous-variable systems.
The dissipative quantum dynamics of a two-level system interacting with a structured reservoir consisting of a damped harmonic mode is investigated by means of the numerically exact path integral Monte Carlo method. This approach provides benchmark results in a broad range of parameter space, in particular, in those domains which are not accessible by approximate methods and alternative numerical schemes, that is, strong coupling between system and harmonic mode and from low to high temperatures. For low temperatures the numerical data are quantitatively in agreement with the noninteracting blip approximation only in the regimes of very weak and very strong coupling. It turns out that the entangled dynamics of the two-level system and the harmonic mode is relatively robust so that its signatures are observable up to relatively strong friction and high temperatures. Nonequilibrium initial preparations of the reservoir with respect to the initial state of the system give rise, for strong interactions, to a stepwise decay of the population, thus displaying coherent dynamics of the bath. The impact of an additional Ohmic bath coupled directly to the two-level system is studied as well, including the case where both reservoirs carry different temperatures.
Abstract A comparative study of entropy dynamics as an indicator of physical behavior in an open two-state system with balanced gain and loss is presented. To begin with, we illustrate the phase portrait of this non-Hermitian model on the Bloch sphere, elucidating the changes in behavior as one moves across the phase transition boundary, as well as the emergent feature of unidirectional state evolution in the spontaneously broken P T -symmetry regime. This is followed by an examination of the purity and entropy dynamics. Here we distinguish the perspective taken in utilizing the conventional framework of Hermitian-adjoint states from an approach that is based on biorthogonal-adjoint states and a third case based on an isospectral mapping. In this it is demonstrated that their differences are rooted in the treatment of the environmental coupling mode. For unbroken P T symmetry of the system, a notable characteristic feature of the perspective taken is the presence or absence of purity oscillations, with an associated entropy revival. The description of the system is then continued from its P T -symmetric pseudo-Hermitian phase into the regime of spontaneously broken symmetry, in the latter two approaches through a non-analytic operator-based continuation, yielding a Lindblad master equation based on the P T charge operator C . This phase transition indicates a general connection between the pseudo-Hermitian closed-system and the Lindbladian open-system formalism through a spontaneous breakdown of the underlying physical reflection symmetry.
The time evolution of the purity (the trace of the square of the reduced density matrix) and von Neumann entropy in a symmetric two-level system coupled to a dissipative harmonic bath is investigated through analytical arguments and accurate path integral calculations on simple models and the singly excited bacteriochlorophyll dimer. A simple theoretical analysis establishes bounds and limiting behaviors. The contributions to purity from a purely incoherent term obtained from the diagonal elements of the reduced density matrix, a term associated with the difference of the two eigenstate populations, and a third term related to the square of the time derivative of a site population, are discussed in various regimes. In the case of tunneling dynamics from a localized initial condition, the complex interplay among these contributions leads to the recovery of purity under low-temperature, weakly dissipative conditions. Memory effects from the bath are found to play a critical role to the dynamics of purity. It is shown that the strictly quantum mechanical decoherence process associated with spontaneous phonon emission is responsible for the long-time recovery of purity. These analytical and numerical results show clearly that the loss of quantum coherence during the evolution toward equilibrium does not necessarily imply the decay of purity, and that the time scales relevant to these two processes may be entirely different.
The quantum dynamics of the number of photons, of the quantum entropy, and the Wigner functions of field interacting modes are studied for the process of non-degenerate parametric decay in an optical cavity, where a quantum with energy ℏω3\hbar {{\omega }_{3}}ℏω3​ decays into two photons with energies ℏω2\hbar {{\omega }_{2}}ℏω2​ and ℏω1\hbar {{\omega }_{1}}ℏω1​ ( ℏω3=ℏω2+ℏω1\hbar {{\omega }_{3}} = \hbar {{\omega }_{2}} + \hbar {{\omega }_{1}}ℏω3​=ℏω2​+ℏω1​ ). It is shown that the mode with frequency ω3{{\omega }_{3}}ω3​ can localize in a squeezed state in the region of very strong coupling between the interacting modes, and the modes with frequencies ω1{{\omega }_{1}}ω1​ and ω2{{\omega }_{2}}ω2​ localize in states that are statistical mixtures of Fock states regardless of the value of the coupling coefficient