Stochastic resonance in a fundamental quantum system
Thomas Wellens, Andreas Buchleitner
We provide a detailed description of the response of an experimentally accessible, open, driven quantum system in its stationary state to a weak periodic signal. The system, a single mode of the quantized radiation field in coherent interaction with a sequence of two-level atoms and coupled to an environment of temperature T , is shown to exhibit stochastic resonance on output, under changes of T . Furthermore, at vanishing temperature, the transition rates between the metastable states of the radiation field remain finite and are set by the quantum noise level at . Consequently, signal enhancement and synchronization can be achieved even in this very quantum limit, for a properly tuned signal frequency.
Journal of Physics A Mathematical and General•Jan 1, 1999•8 citations