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Journal of Modern Optics

Adding and subtracting energy quanta of the harmonic oscillator

H. M. Moya-Cessa, S. Chávez-Cerda, W. Vogel

Published Sep 1, 1999• 10 citations

Abstract

We propose a scheme to add/subtract excitations to/from an arbitrary quantum state or the harmonic oscillator. The method displaces the photon-number distribution and leaves its shape unchanged for a wide range of displacements. Mathematically this is realized by the action of phase operators of the Susskind-Glogower type onto the initial quantum state. Consequently, the shape of the phase distribution is preserved unless the number statistics are modified due to displacing it by subtraction onto the vacuum state. Starting with an initially coherent state one may realize pure quantum states displaying either amplitude or phase squeezing. The implementation of the method is based on interactions of the Jaynes-Cummings type, in the case of subtracting quanta one additionally needs to perform measurements on the electronic quantum state of the atoms. Our approach could be used for adding and subtracting both photons on a cavity field and motional quanta of a trapped ion.

DOI: 10.1080/09500349908231362

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We propose a scheme to add/subtract excitations to/from an arbitrary quantum state or the harmonic oscillator. The method displaces the photon-number distribution and leaves its shape unchanged for a wide range of displacements. Mathematically this is realized by the action of phase operators of the Susskind-Glogower type onto the initial quantum state. Consequently, the shape of the phase distribution is preserved unless the number statistics are modified due to displacing it by subtraction onto the vacuum state. Starting with an initially coherent state one may realize pure quantum states displaying either amplitude or phase squeezing. The implementation of the method is based on interactions of the Jaynes-Cummings type, in the case of subtracting quanta one additionally needs to perform measurements on the electronic quantum state of the atoms. Our approach could be used for adding and subtracting both photons on a cavity field and motional quanta of a trapped ion.

Summary form only given, as follows. The ability to create and completely characterize a variety of fundamental quantum states has long been sought after in the laboratory since it brings to the forefront issues involving the relationship between quantum and classical physics. The interaction of a trapped atom with classical laser light constitutes a simple and well-isolated quantum system that makes experiments along these lines possible. The motion of an ion trapped in a rf-trap can be described as a quantum harmonic oscillator. If the ion is driven by a classical light field, several interactions similar to and beyond the simple Jaynes-Cummings coupling can be realized. These couplings allow for precisely controlled engineering and measurement of quantum states. We create states having both classical and nonclassical character including thermal, number, coherent, squeezed, and Schrodinger cat states. The motional quantum state is fully reconstructed with use of two novel schemes that determine the density matrix in the number state basis and the Wigner function. Our techniques allow well-controlled experiments on decoherence and related phenomena on the quantum-classical borderline.

We demonstrate control of a trapped-ion quantum harmonic oscillator in a squeezed Fock state basis, using engineered Hamiltonians analogous to the Jaynes-Cummings and anti-Jaynes-Cummings forms. We demonstrate that for squeezed Fock states with low n the engineered Hamiltonians reproduce the sqrt[n] scaling of the matrix elements which is typical of Jaynes-Cummings physics, and also examine deviations due to the finite wavelength of our control fields. Starting from a squeezed vacuum state, we apply sequences of alternating transfer pulses which allow us to climb the squeezed Fock state ladder, creating states up to excitations of n=6 with up to 8.7 dB of squeezing, as well as demonstrating superpositions of these states. These techniques offer access to new sets of states of the harmonic oscillator which may be applicable for precision metrology or quantum information science.

The phase properties of the quantized electromagnetic field have been studied using operators ${P}^{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}$ of the harmonic oscillator whose classical analogs are exp(\ensuremath{\mp}i\ensuremath{\theta}), \ensuremath{\theta} being the classical phase.

{P}^{+}

and ${P}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}}$ are used to construct a unitary operator

{U}_{p}

(\ensuremath{\alpha})=exp(\ensuremath{\alpha}

{P}^{+}

-${\ensuremath{\alpha}}^{\mathrm{*}}$${P}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}}$) and the properties of the state generated by

{U}_{p}

from a number state are studied. It is shown that by tuning \ensuremath{\alpha} it is possible to produce a pure state ${\ensuremath{\psi}}_{0}$=

{U}_{p}

(\ensuremath{\alpha})\ensuremath{\Vert}0〉 in which a specific number-state component is suppressed.