The method of stochastic recurrent relation is used for simulating a random sequence (trajectory) of the counts of a detector of atomic states at the output of a single-atom micromaser. A random sequence of the relative frequencies of counts of a detector during a fixed time interval is calculated. The frequencies of counts vary randomly near the average time-independent level. It is assumed that these average levels are reproducible observables for each random trajectory. A micromaser can jumpwise transfer from one average level of the relative frequencies of counts to another. It is assumed that a certain subensemble of the states of a field mode corresponds to each measured average level of the frequencies of counts. A method is proposed for calculating possible average relative frequencies of counts and corresponding (mean) reduced density matrices of the mode ρ st . The matrix ρ st characterizes a micromaser during its development along a specified periodic trajectory. It is found by solving the eigenvalue problem for the evolution operator on the period. An analytic method for solving this problem is developed. The matrix ρ st is the solution to the inverse problem of the reconstruction of the statistics of a field mode from the statistics of a random trajectory. The procedure of selecting the parameters of the evolution operator on the period is discussed through a numerical example.
The method of stochastic recurrent relation is used for simulating a random sequence (trajectory) of the counts of a detector of atomic states at the output of a single-atom micromaser. A random sequence of the relative frequencies of counts of a detector during a fixed time interval is calculated. The frequencies of counts vary randomly near the average time-independent level. It is assumed that these average levels are reproducible observables for each random trajectory. A micromaser can jumpwise transfer from one average level of the relative frequencies of counts to another. It is assumed that a certain subensemble of the states of a field mode corresponds to each measured average level of the frequencies of counts. A method is proposed for calculating possible average relative frequencies of counts and corresponding (mean) reduced density matrices of the mode ρ st . The matrix ρ st characterizes a micromaser during its development along a specified periodic trajectory. It is found by solving the eigenvalue problem for the evolution operator on the period. An analytic method for solving this problem is developed. The matrix ρ st is the solution to the inverse problem of the reconstruction of the statistics of a field mode from the statistics of a random trajectory. The procedure of selecting the parameters of the evolution operator on the period is discussed through a numerical example.
It is proposed to use a result of indirect measurements—the average relative frequency of counts of a detector selective for the states of atoms escaping from a micromaser—for time selection of subensembles of a field mode. Analytical expressions for the reduced density matrix, average number of photons, and Mandel Q parameter for mode subensembles were obtained by the method of periodic paths. The generation of a random sequence of results of indirect quantum measurements was performed by the Monte Carlo method. The results of the analytical and numerical calculations are compared. It is found that the statistics of subensembles is sub-Poisson even when the calculation based on the matrix for the entire ensemble (in the absence of quantum measurements) gives super-Poisson statistics. It is noted that the time selection of subensembles is possible within a limited range of variation in the pumping parameter Θ, when the probability of quantum jumps is relatively low.
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.
We present a general method for the derivation of various statistical quantities describing the detection of a beam of atoms emerging from a micromaser. The use of non-normalized conditioned density operators and a linear master equation for the dynamics between detection events is discussed as are the counting statistics, sequence statistics, and waiting time statistics. In particular, we derive expressions for the mean number of successive detections of atoms in one of any two orthogonal states of the two-level atom. We also derive expressions for the mean waiting times between detections. We show that the mean waiting times between detections of atoms in like states are equivalent to the mean waiting times calculated from the uncorrelated steady state detection rates, although like atoms are indeed correlated. The mean waiting times between detections of atoms in unlike states exhibit correlations. We evaluate the expressions for various detector efficiencies using numerical integration, reporting results for the standard micromaser arrangement in which the cavity is pumped by excited atoms and the excitation levels of the emerging atoms are measured. In addition, the atomic inversion and the Fano-Mandel function for the detection of deexcited atoms are calculated for comparison to the experimental results of Weidinger et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 3795 (1999)], who report the observation of trapping states.
A method is presented for theoretically investigating the properties of a one-atom micromaser with stationary non-Poissonian pumping. The method is based on treating the statistics of the arrival times of the individual pump atoms with the help of the theory of stochastic point processes. Considerable simplification is achieved by assuming the pump statistics to be described by a stationary renewal process. Thus the influence of super- as well as sub-Poissonian pumping with different strengths of correlation between the pump atoms and different correlation decay times may be studied quantitatively. The level-selective statistics of the atoms leaving the cavity is investigated as well as the photon statistics of the cavity field. Moreover, the relation to the other models used in the literature for describing the micromaser pump statistics is discussed. It is found that for sub- (super-)Poissonian pumping, the stationary expectation value of the cavity photon number (which corresponds to its time-averaged value) is larger (smaller) than the conditioned mean photon number that would result from averaging over the number of photons present in the cavity at the time instants immediately before the injection of the individual pump atoms. For Poissonian pumping, both quantities are shown to be equal. The relative standard deviation of the stationary cavity photon number is decreased (increased) for sub- (super-) Poissonian pumping, in comparison to the corresponding values that would result from Poissonian pumping. Moreover, it turns out that for sub- (super-)Poissonian pumping, the normalized coincidence probability density for the detection of the outgoing deexcited atoms is smaller (larger) than the normalized cavity field intensity correlation function at zero time delay. The difference decreases with increasing lifetime of the pump-atom correlations. Finally, the level-selective delayed coincidence probability densities of the outgoing atoms and their waiting-time distributions are found to be affected greatly by the correlation strength as well as the correlation decay time of the incoming pump atoms.
The realization of the micromaser prompted theoretical interest in the fundamental problems of laser physics. In particular, it has been shown that the usual quantum theory of the laser can be recovered from the micromaser theory if a Poissonian average with respect to the time intervals between subsequent injections is taken. The problem of general injection statistics has not been fully resolved but, instead, has been circumvented in the following ways. Instead of the time period between successive injections, the number of injected atoms during a fixed time interval was considered as a stochastic variable and was averaged with respect to a general sub-Poissonian distribution. This led to a closed-form master equa tion, but correction terms arise when the effect of cavity damping is significant. In another approach a stroboscopic theory has been developed: The system is observed when a full cycle of pumping, firing, and decay is completed. This assumes observation of the system on a nonuniform time scale. Here we carry out the averaging over the time interval between subsequent injections with sub-Poissonian distribution, suggest a new compact master equation, and exploit some of its consequences. We show that this approach reproduces the previous ones if the cavity damping is negligible. The surprising result of our approach is that altering the pump statistics affects both the gain and the loss part of the laser dynamics.
A random sequence (path) of counts of an ideal detector, selective for energy states of an atom, at the output of a one-atom maser is simulated numerically by the Monte Carlo method. Fragments of a path for the cases in which a micromaser undergoes quantum jumps with an increase (jump up) or a decrease in the average number of photons in a mode are obtained. An idealized dynamic model of a quantum jump is formulated on the basis of the concept of a critical fluctuation, when several tens of atoms in the same state are detected successively. Approximate formulas for the dependence of the average number of photons and the rate of its change on the number of atoms passing through a cavity along a jump path are obtained. The probability of a quantum jump in the idealized model is estimated. It is shown that accounting for the nonideality of a jump increases its probability by several orders of magnitude. The high rate of a quantum jump up (the superpump effect) is attributed to the possibility of redistribution of photons between subensembles of the mode states. The probability of a nonideal quantum jump and the most likely number of interruptions (opposite escapes) in an ideal jump path are estimated.