We give a brief review of some group and quantum group theoretical methods used for the construction of photon states, generalisations of coherent and squeezed states. We finally describe a more general approach, exemplified by a new generalized coherent state, a generalization of the Kerr state.
A general definition of squeezed states is proposed and its main features are illustrated through a discussion of the standard optical coherent states represented by 'Gaussian pure states'. The set-up involves representations of groups on Hilbert spaces over homogeneous spaces of the group, and relies on the construction of a square integrable (coherent state) group representation modulo a subgroup. This construction depends upon a choice of a Borel section which has a certain permissible arbitrariness in its selection; this freedom is attributable to a squeezing of the defining coherent states of the representation, and corresponds in this way to a sort of gauging.
This subject of this thesis is the physical application of deformations of Lie algebras and their use in generalising some exotic quantum optical states. We begin by examining the theory of quantum groups and the q-boson algebras used in their representation theory. Following a review of the properties of conventional coherent states, we describe the extension of the theory to various deformed Heisenberg-Weyl algebras, as well as the q-deformations of su(2) and su(1,1). Using the Deformed Oscillator Algebra of Bonatsos and Daskaloyannis, we construct generalised deformed coherent states and investigate some of their quantum optical properties. We then demonstrate a resolution of unity for such states and suggest a way of investigating the geometric effects of the deformation. The formalism devised by Rembielinski et al is used to consider coherent states of the q-boson algebra over the quantum complex plane. We propose a new unitary operator which is a q-analogue of the displacement operator of conventional coherent state theory: This is used to construct q-displaced vacuum states which are eigenstates of the annihilation operator. Some quantum mechanical properties of these states are investigated and it is shown that they formally satisfy a Heisenberg-type minimum uncertainty relation. After briefly reviewing the theory of conventional squeezed states, we examine the various q-generalisations. We propose a q-analogue of the squeezed vacuum state, and use this in conjunction with the unitary q-displacement operator to construct a general q-squeezed state, parameterised by noncommuting variables.. It is shown that, like their conventional counterparts, such states satisfy the Robertson-Schrodinger Uncertainty Relation. We conclude with a brief discussion about the appearance of noncommuting variables in the states that have been considered.
The concept of coherent states for a quantum system has been generalized in many different ways. One elegant way is the dynamical group approach. The subject of this thesis is the physical application of some dynamical group methods in quantum optics and Bose-Einstein Condensation(BEC) and their use in generalizing some quantum optical states and BEC states. We start by generalizing squeezed coherent states to the displaced squeezed phase number states and studying the signal-to-quantum noise ratio for these states. Following a review of the properties of Kerr states and the basic theory of the deformation of the boson algebra, we present an algebraic approach to Kerr states and generalize them to the squeezed states of the q-parametrized harmonic oscillator. Using the eigenstates of a nonlinear density-dependent annihilation operator of the deformed boson algebra, we propose general time covariant coherent states for any time-independent quantum system. Using the ladder operator approach similar to that of binomial states, we construct interpolating number-coherent states, intermediate states which are generalizations of some fundamental states in quantum optics. Salient statistical properties and non-classical features of these interpolating numbercoherent states are investigated and the interaction with an atomic system in the framework of the Jaynes-Cummings model and the scheme to produce these states are also studied in detail. After briefly reviewing the realization of Bose-Einstein Condensates and relevant theoretical research using mean-field theory, we present a dynamical group approach to Bose-Einstein condensation and the atomic tunnelling between two condensates which interact via a minimal coupling term. First we consider the spectrum of one Bose-Einstein condensate and show that the mean-field dynamics is characterised by the semi-direct product of the 8U(1,1) and Heisenberg-Weyl groups.We then construct a generalized version of the BEC ground states and weakly excited states. It is shown that our states for BEC provide better fits to the experimental results. Then we investigate the tunnelling between the excitations in two condensates which interact via a minimal coupling term. The dynamics of the two interacting Bose systems is characterised by the 80(3,2) group, which leads to an exactly solvable model. Further we describe the dynamics of the tunnelling of the two coupled condensates in terms of the semi-direct product of 80(3,2) and two independent Heisenberg-Weyl groups. From this we obtain the energy spectrum and eigenstates for the two interacting Bose-Einstein condensates, as well as the Josephson current between the two coupled condensates.