Unperturbed measurements of the n-quantum state of an harmonic oscillator

Wilbert James Lick

Wave-interference effects for transitions between unperturbed states of a forced harmonic oscillator are explicitly demonstrated by comparing the exact quantum-mechanical solution for this problem with a solution which assumes transitions to the different states are independent and therefore neglects wave-interference effects.

R. W. Hayward

Carlo Jacoboni

R. M. McDermott, Ian H. Redmount

Some of the most enduring questions in physics--including the quantum measurement problem and the quantization of gravity--involve the interaction of a quantum system with a classical environment. Two linearly coupled harmonic oscillators provide a simple, exactly soluble model for exploring such interaction. Even the ground state of a pair of identical oscillators exhibits effects on the quantum nature of one oscillator, e.g., a diminution of position uncertainty, and an increase in momentum uncertainty and uncertainty product, from their unperturbed values. Interaction between quantum and classical oscillators is simulated by constructing a quantum state with one oscillator initially in its ground state, the other in a coherent or Glauber state. The subsequent wave function for this state is calculated exactly, both for identical and distinct oscillators. The reduced probability distribution for the quantum oscillator, and its position and momentum expectation values and uncertainties, are obtained from this wave function. The oscillator acquires an oscillation amplitude corresponding to a beating between the normal modes of the system; the behavior of the position and momentum uncertainties can become quite complicated. For oscillators with equal unperturbed frequencies, i.e., at resonance, the uncertainties exhibit a time-dependent quantum squeezing which can be extreme.

Sumiyoshi Abe, Rudolf Ehrhardt

Harmonic oscillators with time-dependent frequencies describe physics of the Paul trap of ions, radiation fields in media of time-varying dielectric constants, and so on. Their ground states are generically squeezed states. Here the effects of small anharmonicity on such nonclassical states are discussed. A perturbative calculation is performed, in which the unperturbed states are prepared in terms of the Hermitian invariant of the time-dependent harmonic oscillator. A quartic potential perturbation is investigated in detail. It is found that the correction term as well as the unperturbed term in the ground-state persistence probability can be expressed by the moments of a number operator alone. The oscillatory behavior is found in that correction term, which shows a competition of excitation and deexcitation due to the time dependence of the frequency and the nonlinear interaction. This may be observed experimentally as the temporal fluctuation of the quasienergy levels. Some formulas are also presented for the variances and correlations of the quadratures in the perturbed states.

P. M. Mathews, Kumar Eswaran