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Quantum Statistics of Fields

Stephen Mark Barnett, PAUL M. RADMORE

Published Nov 14, 2002• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract This chapter considers methods for describing the quantum statistics of a single mode of the electromagnetic field. Some of these methods may be extended to multimode fields, and this is discussed in the last section of the chapter. The moment generating function is developed for studying the photon number statistics of a single field mode. The quantum properties of optical phase are described using the optical phase operator. The characteristic functions and quasi-probability distributions provide a complete statistical description of the field. These rely on the properties the coherent states and the Glauber displacement operator.

DOI
10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198563617.003.0004

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Journal of physics. A, Proceedings of the Physical Society. General•Nov 1, 1969•34 citations
Abstract This chapter considers methods for describing the quantum statistics of a single mode of the electromagnetic field. Some of these methods may be extended to multimode fields, and this is discussed in the last section of the chapter. The moment generating function is developed for studying the photon number statistics of a single field mode. The quantum properties of optical phase are described using the optical phase operator. The characteristic functions and quasi-probability distributions provide a complete statistical description of the field. These rely on the properties the coherent states and the Glauber displacement operator.
The language of statistical moments and covariance matrices we introduced in the previous chapter offers a compact and efficient formalism to deal with Gaussian states. A much more general approach may be taken to describe any quantum state in a setting which is reminiscent of classical phase space. This is the framework of quantum characteristic functions and quasi-probability distributions, which goes back to seminal work by Wigner on quantum corrections to classical statistical mechanics, and bloomed in the sixties with the rise of theoretical quantum optics and the emergence of a general unifying picture. Conceptually, the phase space description of quantum states hinges on the completeness of the set of displacement operators, which we shall prove in the form of the Fourier–Weyl relation between density matrices and characteristic functions. This relationship will constitute the bridge between phase space and Hilbert space descriptions, which will be useful in several applications in the context of quantum information. It will be convenient to handle most of the proofs and mathematical arguments concerning characteristic functions and quasi-probability distributions on a single mode of the system. Because displacement operators of multimode systems are just tensor products of local displacement operators, the extension of the formalism to systems with many degrees of freedom will be straightforward. Nevertheless, we shall always take care of explicitly linking the single-mode formulae which will appear in this chapter to the general multimode description adopted in the previous one.
Abstract In this chapter we collect a number of key elements of quantum optics relevant for quantum information theory. We begin by discussing the quantization of the electromagnetic field in terms of harmonic oscillators with ladder operators and the corresponding Fock space. Based on this description we introduce Glauber’s coherent states and examine their properties as proper quantum analogues of the classical harmonic oscillator. We then study the description of states of light in a quantum-mechanical phase space by employing quasi-probability distributions such as the Wigner function. With these tools at hand we then focus on the family of Gaussian states and their compact description in terms of covariance matrices and vectors of first moments. We review the formalism of Gaussian operations, symplectic operations, the Williamson normal form, and the Bloch-Messiah decomposition. Finally, we take a look at entanglement of Gaussian states.
Abstract The theory of the electromagnetic field quantization developed in Chapter 4 simplifies considerably for applications Lo many of the key experiments in quantum optics. Thus many experiments use plane parallel light beams whose transverse intensity profiles are not important for the measured quantities. Again, it is often sufficient in interpreting the data to consider the light beams as exciting a single mode of the field. The present chapter begins with the specialization of the quantization to single-mode excitations. The quantum theory is illustrated by its application to several varieties of single-mode state and the main features of number Cates, coherent states, chaotic statistical mixtures and squeezed states are derived.
As we have seen in the previous chapters, there are quantum fluctuations associated with the states corresponding to classically welldefined electromagnetic fields. The general description of fluctuation phenomena requires the density operator. However, it is possible to give an alternative but equivalent description in terms of distribution functions. In the present chapter, we extend our treatment of quantum statistical phenomena by developing the theory of quasi-classical distributions. This is of interest for several reasons. First of all, the extension of the quantum theory of radiation to involve nonquantum stochastic effects such as thermal fluctuations is needed. This is an important ingredient in the theory of partial coherence. Furthermore, the interface between classical and quantum physics is elucidated by the use of such distributions. The arch type example being the Wigner distribution. In this chapter, we introduce various distribution functions. These include the coherent state representation or the Glauber–Sudarshan Prepresentation. The P -representation is used to evaluate the normally ordered correlation functions of the field operators. As we shall see in the next chapter, the P -representation forms a correspondence between the quantum and the classical coherence theory. This distribution function does not have all of the properties of the classical distribution functions for certain states of the field, e.g., it can be negative. We also discuss the so-called Q -representation associated with the antinormally ordered correlation functions. Other distribution functions and their properties are also presented.
In this chapter we will consider some simple systems arising out of the Hamiltonians in the previous chapters. Here, we will look at these systems without considering damping or reservoirs. These systems involve only a small number of field modes – typically one, two or three. We will revisit them in later chapters to consider what happens when the fields are confined to a cavity with damping, including possible input and output coupling. Before discussing the models, however, we need to describe a number of features of fields consisting of a small number of modes. We will begin with a discussion of the quantum theory of photo-detection and optical coherence, due to Mandel and Glauber. This makes use of the microscopic model for atom–field interactions in the previous chapter, to allow us to introduce a theory of coherence and photon counting. We will also treat the representation for a single-mode field known as a P -representation. This will be the first quasi-distribution function we will encounter. It is a c-number representation of the quantum state of a field mode. As we shall see in subsequent chapters, quasi-distribution functions are very useful in describing the dynamics of interacting quantum systems coupled to reservoirs. We will then go on to use the P -representation to define the notion of a nonclassical state of the field; such states are signified by the fact that the P -representation is no longer a well-behaved, positive distribution. Nonclassical states are natural results of nonlinear optical interactions, and we will show how that comes about for some of our models. It is also possible to define P -representations for multi-mode fields. This leads to a discussion of nonclassical correlations between modes.
The generating function, the corresponding integrated intensity distribution, and the photon-counting distribution and its fractional moments are derived for the superposition of coherent and chaotic M-mode fields on the basis of a formalism of arbitrary ordering of field operators in quantum optics. An alternative description is also given based on a recent analysis of the superposition of coherent and chaotic fields in terms of the correlation functions which makes it possible to derive a number of results valid for arbitrary mean occupation numbers per mode from which the model considered follows as a special case. Many earlier results obtained for coherent and chaotic fields and their superposition are included as special cases. The present results generally describe a superposition experiment for an N-mode coherent field (e.g. generated by an N-mode laser operating far above threshold) and an M-mode chaotic field (M>or=N) as well as a field generated by an M-mode laser operating above threshold.