Quasiclassical Dynamics for Ions Confined in Axially Symmetric Electromagnetic Traps
Bogdan M. Mihalcea
Abstract
Quasiclassical dynamics of trapped ions is described by applying the time dependent variational principle (TDVP) on coherent state orbits, introduced as sub-manifolds of the quantum state space. The classical Hamilton functions associated to the system are obtained as the expected values of the quantum Hamiltonian on symplectic coherent states. Such formalism can be applied to Hamilton functions which are nonlinear in the infinitesimal generators of a dynamical symmetry group. We give the explicit expression of the quantum Hamilton function in case of nonlinear electromagnetic traps. Discrete quasienergy spectra result, and the corresponding quasienergy states are explicitly realized as coherent states parameterized by the stable solutions of the corresponding classical equations of motion. A dequantization algorithm is also suggested. The method is then applied to combined (Paul and Penning) and ideal Paul traps. We obtain the explicit expressions of the classical Hamilton functions for such particular traps, as well as the classical Hamilton equations of motion in complex coordinates for an octupole trap. In the pseudopotential approximation, the points of minimum of the Hamiton function define equilibrium configurations for trapped ions, of interest for quantum logic.