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arXiv:quant-ph/0112145 · Physical Review A

Atom lasers, coherent states, and coherence II. Maximally robust ensembles of pure states

Howard M. Wiseman, John A. Vaccaro

Published Mar 20, 2002• 12 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

As discussed in the preceding paper [Wiseman and Vaccaro, preceding paper, Phys. Rev. A 65, 043605 (2002)], the stationary state of an optical or atom laser far above threshold is a mixture of coherent field states with random phase, or, equivalently, a Poissonian mixture of number states. We are interested in which, if either, of these descriptions of ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{\mathrm{ss}}$ as a stationary ensemble of pure states, is more natural. In the preceding paper we concentrated upon the question of whether descriptions such as these are physically realizable (PR). In this paper we investigate another relevant aspect of these ensembles, their robustness. A robust ensemble is one for which the pure states that comprise it survive relatively unchanged for a long time under the system evolution. We determine numerically the most robust ensembles as a function of the parameters in the laser model: the self-energy $\ensuremath{\chi}$ of the bosons in the laser mode, and the excess phase noise $\ensuremath{\nu}.$ We find that these most robust ensembles are PR ensembles, or similar to PR ensembles, for all values of these parameters. In the ideal laser limit $(\ensuremath{\nu}=\ensuremath{\chi}=0),$ the most robust states are coherent states. As the phase noise or phase dispersion is increased through $\ensuremath{\nu}$ or the self-interaction of the bosons $\ensuremath{\chi},$ respectively, the most robust states become more and more amplitude squeezed. We find scaling laws for these states, and give analytical derivations for them. As the phase diffusion or dispersion becomes so large that the laser output is no longer quantum coherent, the most robust states become so squeezed that they cease to have a well-defined coherent amplitude. That is, the quantum coherence of the laser output is manifest in the most robust PR ensemble being an ensemble of states with a well-defined coherent amplitude. This lends support to our approach of regarding robust PR ensembles as the most natural description of the state of the laser mode. It also has interesting implications for atom lasers in particular, for which phase dispersion due to self-interactions is expected to be large.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.65.043606

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As discussed in the preceding paper [Wiseman and Vaccaro, preceding paper, Phys. Rev. A 65, 043605 (2002)], the stationary state of an optical or atom laser far above threshold is a mixture of coherent field states with random phase, or, equivalently, a Poissonian mixture of number states. We are interested in which, if either, of these descriptions of \ensuremathρss{\ensuremath{\rho}}_{\mathrm{ss}}\ensuremathρss​ as a stationary ensemble of pure states, is more natural. In the preceding paper we concentrated upon the question of whether descriptions such as these are physically realizable (PR). In this paper we investigate another relevant aspect of these ensembles, their robustness. A robust ensemble is one for which the pure states that comprise it survive relatively unchanged for a long time under the system evolution. We determine numerically the most robust ensembles as a function of the parameters in the laser model: the self-energy \ensuremathχ\ensuremath{\chi}\ensuremathχ of the bosons in the laser mode, and the excess phase noise \ensuremathν.\ensuremath{\nu}.\ensuremathν. We find that these most robust ensembles are PR ensembles, or similar to PR ensembles, for all values of these parameters. In the ideal laser limit (\ensuremathν=\ensuremathχ=0),(\ensuremath{\nu}=\ensuremath{\chi}=0),(\ensuremathν=\ensuremathχ=0), the most robust states are coherent states. As the phase noise or phase dispersion is increased through \ensuremathν\ensuremath{\nu}\ensuremathν or the self-interaction of the bosons \ensuremathχ,\ensuremath{\chi},\ensuremathχ, respectively, the most robust states become more and more amplitude squeezed. We find scaling laws for these states, and give analytical derivations for them. As the phase diffusion or dispersion becomes so large that the laser output is no longer quantum coherent, the most robust states become so squeezed that they cease to have a well-defined coherent amplitude. That is, the quantum coherence of the laser output is manifest in the most robust PR ensemble being an ensemble of states with a well-defined coherent amplitude. This lends support to our approach of regarding robust PR ensembles as the most natural description of the state of the laser mode. It also has interesting implications for atom lasers in particular, for which phase dispersion due to self-interactions is expected to be large.
A laser, be it an optical laser or an atom laser, is an open quantum system that produces a coherent beam of bosons (photons or atoms, respectively). Far above threshold, the stationary state ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{\mathrm{ss}}$ of the laser mode is a mixture of coherent-field states with random phase, or, equivalently, a Poissonian mixture of number states. This paper answers the question: can descriptions such as these, of ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{\mathrm{ss}}$ as a stationary ensemble of pure states, be physically realized? Here physical realization is as defined previously by us [H. M. Wiseman and J. A. Vaccaro, Phys. Lett. A 250, 241 (1998)]: an ensemble of pure states for a particular system can be physically realized if, without changing the dynamics of the system, an experimenter can (in principle) know at any time that the system is in one of the pure-state members of the ensemble. Such knowledge can be obtained by monitoring the baths to which the system is coupled, provided that coupling is describable by a Markovian master equation. Using a family of master equations for the (atom) laser, we solve for the physically realizable (PR) ensembles. We find that for any finite self-energy $\ensuremath{\chi}$ of the bosons in the laser mode, the coherent-state ensemble is not PR; the closest one can come to it is an ensemble of squeezed states. This is particularly relevant for atom lasers, where the self-energy arising from elastic collisions is expected to be large. By contrast, the number-state ensemble is always PR. As the self-energy $\ensuremath{\chi}$ increases, the states in the PR ensemble closest to the coherent-state ensemble become increasingly squeezed. Nevertheless, there are values of $\ensuremath{\chi}$ for which states with well-defined coherent amplitudes are PR, even though the atom laser is not coherent (in the sense of having a Bose-degenerate output). We discuss the physical significance of this anomaly in terms of conditional coherence (and hence conditional Bose degeneracy).
The stationary solution ρ of a quantum master equation can be represented as an ensemble of pure states in a continuous infinity of ways. Here we suggest a definition of the the “most natural” ensemble. The first requirement is that the ensemble be physically realizable through monitoring the system’s environment. We call this an ’unraveling’ of the master equation. The second requirement is that it be the most robust of such ensembles. Robustness of an ensemble is defined in terms of the survival probability S(t) which is the average probability for one of its elements to remain unchanged after a time t . The most natural ensemble can thus be said to be the one produced by the maximally robust unraveling. An application of interest is the atom laser. We show that the nature of the maximally robust unraveling is closely related to the question of whether the output beam satisfies the conditions required to be a true laser beam.
Recent advances in laser theory have demonstrated that a quantum enhancement is possible for the production of coherence C\mathfrak{C}C by a continuous-wave laser device. Curiously, natural families of laser models that achieve Heisenberg-limited scaling for coherence produce the most coherence when the beam exhibits sub-Poissonian photon statistics. In this work, we provide an analytical treatment of those novel families of laser models by specializing to a parameter regime that permits a linearization. We characterize the dynamics of each laser system, and find that some of the intuitions from standard laser theory may be applied here. Specifically, the intracavity number dynamics are well-described as an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process, while the intracavity phase dynamics are well-described in terms of a physically realizable ensemble of pure states, which evolve according to pure phase diffusion. Unlike a standard laser, however, we find that the pure states comprising the ensemble in the Heisenberg-limited lasers are substantially phase squeezed. From our dynamical analysis, we deduce various quantities of the beam for each laser family, including the first- and second-order Glauber coherence functions, intensity noise spectrum, Mandel-Q parameter and coherence C\mathfrak{C}C. In addition, inspired from these phase diffusion dynamics, we derive an upper bound on laser coherence C≲1.1156μ4\mathfrak{C} \lesssim 1.1156 μ^4C≲1.1156μ4 -- which is tighter by a factor of 3/83/83/8 when compared to that derived in [Baker et al., Nat. Phys. 17 179 (2021)] -- by making one of the assumptions of that paper slightly stronger.
An open quantum system in steady state ${\stackrel{^}{\ensuremath{\rho}}}_{\mathrm{ss}}$ can be represented by a weighted ensemble of pure states ${\stackrel{^}{\ensuremath{\rho}}}_{\mathrm{ss}}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\Sigma}{k}^{}{\ensuremath{\wp}}_{k}|{\ensuremath{\psi}}_{k}〉〈{\ensuremath{\psi}}_{k}|$ in infinitely many ways. A physically realizable (PR) ensemble is one for which some continuous measurement of the environment will collapse the system into a pure state $|\ensuremath{\psi}(t)〉$, stochastically evolving such that the proportion of time for which $|\ensuremath{\psi}(t)〉\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}|{\ensuremath{\psi}}_{k}〉$ equals ${\ensuremath{\wp}}_{k}$. Some, but not all, ensembles are PR. This constitutes the preferred ensemble fact. We present the necessary and sufficient conditions for a given ensemble to be PR, and illustrate the method by showing that the coherent state ensemble is not PR for an atom laser.
We studied the creation of coherent atomic ensembles by various means, allof which are either already demonstrated experimentally or within reach ofcurrent experiments. We investigated the dynamics of the outcoupling of acoherent beam from an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate. Since this problemis well treated in present literature, we focused on another aspect of proposedatom-laser schemes, the pumping. To this end, we investigated the merging ofindependent condensates and paid particular attention to the role of the relativephase. We found that it emerges as a key parameter during the merging process,almost solely defining the resulting dynamics. More concretely, the phasedifference determines the depth of an adiabatically formed soliton as well as thedynamics of a dipole oscillation of the atomic cloud, which builds up during themerging process. Under the assumption of a coherent cooling, such as evaporationof higher energy atoms from the ensemble, we were able to empiricallyfind an analytic formula for the phase of the final condensate. We studied themerging as an independent process, not necessarily linked to the atom laseritself. Our results might shed light onto new, non-destructive ways of readingout phase-differences between condensates as it is necessary in matter-wavespectroscopy. Although not related to our work, it is worth mentioning thatin the mean-time, a different pumping mechanism was demonstrated. It relieson two electronic transitions, with a reservoir condensate and a separate lasingcondensate [74]. We turned towards a different way of producing matter wavepulses altogether, namely superradiance from condensates, which shows otherpromising aspects, such as well defined populations and momenta of the createdpulses. We constructed a quantum treatment for the early stages of the process,which, as we have shown, is not well described within the available mean-fieldmodels. This semi-classical model can, however, produce quantum expectationvalues by means of averaging over randomly seeded trajectories. We used thisrelations to investigate the statistics of delay– and passage-times of superradiantpulses. Beyond the mean-field treatment of the problem, the quantum modelpredicts long range order as well as atomic bunching in the side-modes and enhancedcross-correlations between forward and backwards scattered atoms. Inthe strong pulse regime, the two counter-propagating clouds become entangledand the number difference between them is squeezed.4.6.2 OutlookThe experimental verification of our results is within reach of current experiments,and the tools available to probe Bose-Einstein condensates are advancingat a fast rate. As far as our studies are concerned, there are still open questions.We found that, in general, the merging of condensates is related to the formationof a soliton. The decay of such a structure is a topic of current debate, but theconsensus that this depends highly on the geometry of the trapping potentialsused seems reached.We investigated the early stage of superradiance from condensates and it isnatural to ask what is to expect for later stages, or in other situations wheredepletion of the primary condensate, population of higher order side-modes or120interaction between end-fire modes become relevant. Our results suggest thatthe exotic correlations we found decay with time, but this is not conclusive
Coherent states are normally used to describe the state of a laser field in experiments that generate and detect squeezed states of light. Nevertheless, since the laser field absolute phase is unknown, its quantum state can be described by a statistical mixture of coherent states with random phases, which is equivalent to a statistical mixture of Fock states. Here we describe single-mode squeezed vacuum experiments using this mixed quantum state for the laser field. Representing the laser state in the Fock basis, we predict the usual experimental results without using the squeezing concept in the analysis and concluding that no squeezed state is generated in the experiments. We provide a general physical explanation for the noise reduction in the experiments in terms of a better definition of the relative phase between the signal and local oscillator fields. This explanation is valid in any description of the laser field (in terms of coherent or Fock states), thus providing a deeper understanding of the phenomenon.