Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:2403.20094 · Probability and Mathematical Physics

Quantum trajectory of the one-atom maser

Tristan Benoist, Laurent Bruneau, Clément Pellegrini

Published Aug 11, 2025• 2 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The evolution of a quantum system undergoing repeated indirect measurements naturally leads to a Markov chain on the set of states which is called a quantum trajectory. In this paper we consider a specific model of such a quantum trajectory associated to the one-atom maser model. It describes the evolution of one mode of the quantized electromagnetic field in a cavity interacting with two-level atoms. When the system is non-resonant we prove that this Markov chain admits a unique invariant probability measure. We moreover prove convergence in the Wasserstein metric towards this invariant measure. These results rely on a purification theorem: almost surely the state of the system approaches the set of pure states. Compared to similar results in the literature, the system considered here is infinite dimensional. While existence of an invariant measure is a consequence of the compactness of the set of states in finite dimension, in infinite dimension existence of an invariant measure is not free. Furthermore usual purification criterions in finite dimension have no straightforward equivalent in infinite dimension.

DOI
10.2140/pmp.2025.6.1073

Related papers

Mixing properties of the one-atom maser

Laurent Bruneau

We study the relaxation properties of the quantized electromagnetic field in a cavity under repeated interactions with single two-level atoms, so-called one-atom maser. We improve the ergodic results obtained in [BP] and prove that, whenever the atoms are initially distributed according to the canonical ensemble at temparature T>0, all the invariant states are mixing. Under some non-resonance condition this invariant state is known to be thermal equilibirum at some renormalized temperature T* and we prove that the mixing is then arbitrarily slow, in other words that there is no lower bound on the relaxation speed.

•Jan 1, 2013•9 citations

Phase probability density in subensembles of a quantum mode of a one-atom maser

George P. Miroshnichenko

The method of periodic trajectories is applied to the analysis of the phase states of a one-atom maser mode, information on which can be obtained from a series of consequent indirect phase-sensitive quantum measurements of atoms leaving the cavity. Such information allows one to study in detail the evolution of a maser mode in a stationary state. The evolution pattern is represented as a random sequence of subensembles in which the mode exists during different time intervals. An approximate stochastic recurrence relation is obtained, which allows us, using the Monte Carlo method, to generate a sequence of relative frequencies of detection of the states of a chosen basis in escaping atoms. Formulas for the phase probability density for subensembles of the mode are derived. These formulas are obtained using as initial data the average relative frequencies measured by an experimenter in a region of a stable trajectory.

Optics and Spectroscopy•Sep 1, 2004•2 citations

On a quantum mechanical model for a maser I

Martin Hasler

Abstract The model is closely connected with a model by Lamb and Scully (10). Atoms described as two-level systems, initially in an incoherent superposition of the two levels, interact successively during a time T with an electromagnetic field of which only one mode is taken into consideration. In the limit as infinitely many atoms have interacted, it is shown that the field either approaches a thermal distribution or is excited to arbitrarily high Photon numbers according to whether or not the lower level of the atoms is initially more probable than the upper level. It is also shown that in any case the correlations between pure Photon number states converge to 0. If the atoms are initially in the upper level it is proved that the Photon number grows roughly as the square root of the number of atoms that have interacted. Throughout the discussion number-theoretical properties of T play a disturbing role. The last mentioned result in fact depends on a sharp (but arbitrary) value for T and is therefore disqualified for physical interpretation.

Mathematical Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society•Mar 1, 1976•1 citation

Invariant measure for stochastic Schrödinger equations

Tristan Benoist, Martin Fraas, Yan Pautrat +1 more

Quantum trajectories are Markov processes that describe the time-evolution of a quantum system undergoing continuous indirect measurement. Mathematically, they are defined as solutions of the so-called "Stochastic Schrödinger Equations", which are nonlinear stochastic differential equations driven by Poisson and Wiener processes. This paper is devoted to the study of the invariant measures of quantum trajectories. Particularly, we prove that the invariant measure is unique under an ergodicity condition on the mean time evolution, and a "purification" condition on the generator of the evolution. We further show that quantum trajectories converge in law exponentially fast towards this invariant measure. We illustrate our results with examples where we can derive explicit expressions for the invariant measure.

arXiv:1907.08485•Jul 19, 2019•1 citation

Dynamics of atom-field entanglement: Towards strong-coupling and non-Markovian regimes

Nick Cummings, B. L. Hu

We examine the dynamics of bipartite quantum entanglement between a two-level atom and the electromagnetic field. We begin with the Jaynes-Cummings model with a single field mode and examine in detail the exact time evolution of entanglement, including cases where the atomic state is initially mixed and the atomic transition is detuned from resonance. We then explore the effects of other nearby modes by calculating the exact time evolution of entanglement in more complex systems with two, three, and five field modes. For these cases we can obtain exact solutions which include the strong-coupling regime. Finally, we consider the entanglement of a two-level atom with the infinite collection of modes present in the intracavity field of a Fabre-Perot cavity. In contrast to the usual treatment of atom-field interactions with a continuum of modes using the Born-Markov approximation, our treatment in all cases describes the full non-Markovian dynamics of the atomic subsystem under general couplings. Only when an analytic expression for the infinite mode case is desired do we need to make a weak coupling assumption which at late times approximates Markovian dynamics.

arXiv:0708.2257•Physical Review A•May 30, 2008•17 citations

Markov states of the quantum electromagnetic field

Luigi Accardi, G. S. Watson

A translation-invariant state (a quantum Markov chain) is associated with a nearest-neighbor interaction on a one-dimensional lattice by a new technique which provides closed forms for all the correlation functions. When applied to an Ising-type perturbation of a chain of harmonic oscillators, the dynamics can be computed explicitly. The resulting translation-invariant distribution is substantially different from the Planck distribution when the temperature and the coupling constant are large. For the evolution of the field operators on a given mode, we obtain a natural nonlinear generalization of the theorem which states that the free evolution of the field operators is obtained by second quantization of the classical free evolution.

Physical Review A•Feb 1, 1987•5 citations
The evolution of a quantum system undergoing repeated indirect measurements naturally leads to a Markov chain on the set of states which is called a quantum trajectory. In this paper we consider a specific model of such a quantum trajectory associated to the one-atom maser model. It describes the evolution of one mode of the quantized electromagnetic field in a cavity interacting with two-level atoms. When the system is non-resonant we prove that this Markov chain admits a unique invariant probability measure. We moreover prove convergence in the Wasserstein metric towards this invariant measure. These results rely on a purification theorem: almost surely the state of the system approaches the set of pure states. Compared to similar results in the literature, the system considered here is infinite dimensional. While existence of an invariant measure is a consequence of the compactness of the set of states in finite dimension, in infinite dimension existence of an invariant measure is not free. Furthermore usual purification criterions in finite dimension have no straightforward equivalent in infinite dimension.
We study the relaxation properties of the quantized electromagnetic field in a cavity under repeated interactions with single two-level atoms, so-called one-atom maser. We improve the ergodic results obtained in [BP] and prove that, whenever the atoms are initially distributed according to the canonical ensemble at temparature T>0, all the invariant states are mixing. Under some non-resonance condition this invariant state is known to be thermal equilibirum at some renormalized temperature T* and we prove that the mixing is then arbitrarily slow, in other words that there is no lower bound on the relaxation speed.
The method of periodic trajectories is applied to the analysis of the phase states of a one-atom maser mode, information on which can be obtained from a series of consequent indirect phase-sensitive quantum measurements of atoms leaving the cavity. Such information allows one to study in detail the evolution of a maser mode in a stationary state. The evolution pattern is represented as a random sequence of subensembles in which the mode exists during different time intervals. An approximate stochastic recurrence relation is obtained, which allows us, using the Monte Carlo method, to generate a sequence of relative frequencies of detection of the states of a chosen basis in escaping atoms. Formulas for the phase probability density for subensembles of the mode are derived. These formulas are obtained using as initial data the average relative frequencies measured by an experimenter in a region of a stable trajectory.
Abstract The model is closely connected with a model by Lamb and Scully (10). Atoms described as two-level systems, initially in an incoherent superposition of the two levels, interact successively during a time T with an electromagnetic field of which only one mode is taken into consideration. In the limit as infinitely many atoms have interacted, it is shown that the field either approaches a thermal distribution or is excited to arbitrarily high Photon numbers according to whether or not the lower level of the atoms is initially more probable than the upper level. It is also shown that in any case the correlations between pure Photon number states converge to 0. If the atoms are initially in the upper level it is proved that the Photon number grows roughly as the square root of the number of atoms that have interacted. Throughout the discussion number-theoretical properties of T play a disturbing role. The last mentioned result in fact depends on a sharp (but arbitrary) value for T and is therefore disqualified for physical interpretation.
Quantum trajectories are Markov processes that describe the time-evolution of a quantum system undergoing continuous indirect measurement. Mathematically, they are defined as solutions of the so-called "Stochastic Schrödinger Equations", which are nonlinear stochastic differential equations driven by Poisson and Wiener processes. This paper is devoted to the study of the invariant measures of quantum trajectories. Particularly, we prove that the invariant measure is unique under an ergodicity condition on the mean time evolution, and a "purification" condition on the generator of the evolution. We further show that quantum trajectories converge in law exponentially fast towards this invariant measure. We illustrate our results with examples where we can derive explicit expressions for the invariant measure.
We examine the dynamics of bipartite quantum entanglement between a two-level atom and the electromagnetic field. We begin with the Jaynes-Cummings model with a single field mode and examine in detail the exact time evolution of entanglement, including cases where the atomic state is initially mixed and the atomic transition is detuned from resonance. We then explore the effects of other nearby modes by calculating the exact time evolution of entanglement in more complex systems with two, three, and five field modes. For these cases we can obtain exact solutions which include the strong-coupling regime. Finally, we consider the entanglement of a two-level atom with the infinite collection of modes present in the intracavity field of a Fabre-Perot cavity. In contrast to the usual treatment of atom-field interactions with a continuum of modes using the Born-Markov approximation, our treatment in all cases describes the full non-Markovian dynamics of the atomic subsystem under general couplings. Only when an analytic expression for the infinite mode case is desired do we need to make a weak coupling assumption which at late times approximates Markovian dynamics.
A translation-invariant state (a quantum Markov chain) is associated with a nearest-neighbor interaction on a one-dimensional lattice by a new technique which provides closed forms for all the correlation functions. When applied to an Ising-type perturbation of a chain of harmonic oscillators, the dynamics can be computed explicitly. The resulting translation-invariant distribution is substantially different from the Planck distribution when the temperature and the coupling constant are large. For the evolution of the field operators on a given mode, we obtain a natural nonlinear generalization of the theorem which states that the free evolution of the field operators is obtained by second quantization of the classical free evolution.