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arXiv:quant-ph/0606233 · Physical Review A

Collective two-atom effects and trapping states in the micromaser

Per Kristian Rekdal, Bo-Sture Skagerstam

Published Dec 7, 2006• 0 citations
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Abstract

We investigate signals of trapping states in the micromaser system in terms of the average number $⟨n⟩$ of cavity photons as well as a suitably defined correlation length of atoms leaving the cavity. In the description of collective two-atom effects we allow the mean number, $ϵ$, of pump atoms inside the cavity during the characteristic atomic cavity transit time to be as large as of order one. The master equation we consider, which describes the micromaser including collective two-atom effects, still exhibits trapping states for $ϵ\ensuremath{\ne}0$, even for a mean number of atoms inside the cavity close to one. We, however, argue more importantly that the trapping states are more pronounced in terms of the correlation length as compared to $⟨n⟩$, i.e., we suggest that trapping states can be more clearly revealed experimentally in terms of the atom correlation length. For axion detection in the micromaser this observable may, therefore, be an essential ingredient.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.74.063805

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arXiv:quant-ph/0008082•Physical Review A•Feb 9, 2001•7 citations
We investigate signals of trapping states in the micromaser system in terms of the average number ⟨n⟩⟨n⟩⟨n⟩ of cavity photons as well as a suitably defined correlation length of atoms leaving the cavity. In the description of collective two-atom effects we allow the mean number, ϵϵϵ, of pump atoms inside the cavity during the characteristic atomic cavity transit time to be as large as of order one. The master equation we consider, which describes the micromaser including collective two-atom effects, still exhibits trapping states for ϵ\ensuremath≠0ϵ\ensuremath{\ne}0ϵ\ensuremath=0, even for a mean number of atoms inside the cavity close to one. We, however, argue more importantly that the trapping states are more pronounced in terms of the correlation length as compared to ⟨n⟩⟨n⟩⟨n⟩, i.e., we suggest that trapping states can be more clearly revealed experimentally in terms of the atom correlation length. For axion detection in the micromaser this observable may, therefore, be an essential ingredient.
By applying a quantum-trajectory approach to a master equation for the cavity mode density operator, we investigate the dynamics and the trapping states of a micromaser or microlaser including the effects of cavity temperature, two-atom events, atomic velocity spread, and partial excitation of the atomic beam. In the description of two-atom collective effects we allow for the nonsimultaneous arrival of atoms in the cavity, generalizing to a mean number of atoms ${N}_{\mathrm{at}}\ensuremath{\approx}1,$ a recent treatment [M. I. Kolobov and F. Haake, Phys. Rev. A 55, 3033 (1997)]. We show that, in trapping regions, our treatment of two-atom events can give strikingly different effects with respect to the approximation of simultaneous arrival of atom pairs; e.g., detrapping instead of trapping, different times of approach to the steady state, and different photonstatistics. Also, we simulate micromaser dynamics with parameter values corresponding to the recent experimental observation of the trapping effect by Walther and collaborators [H. Weidinger et al., Technical Digest of the European Quantum Electronics Conference '98 (IEEE, Piscataway, NJ, 1998)].
The field in the micromaser cavity, the atoms which both pump and probe the micromaser, and the detectors that determine the outgoing states of the atoms are treated as a single system in order to derive a nonlinear master equation for the field in the micromaser cavity which takes the effect of undetected atoms into account. Analytic solutions for this master equation are found for both phase-insensitive and phase-sensitive detection. These solutions can be used to explicitly show the back-action effects that measurement has on the spectrum of the micromaser. In addition, these solutions are used to find analytic expressions for the mean number of successive detector clicks of the same kind as well as atom-atom and photon-photon correlation functions. In this way, the analytic solutions are linked to experimentally accessible data.
Phase diagrams of the micromaser system are mapped out in terms of the physical parameters at hand like the atom cavity transit time, the atom-photon frequency detuning, the number of thermal photons and the probability for a pump atom to be in its excited state. Critical fluctuations are studied in terms of correlation measurements on atoms having passed through the micromaser or on the microcavity photons themselves. At sufficiently large values of the detuning we find a ``twinkling'' mode of the micromaser system. Detailed properties of the trapping states are also presented.
Correlation measurements on the states of two-level atoms having passed through a micromaser at different times can be used to infer properties of the quantum state of the radiation field in the cavity. Long(short) correlation length in time is to some extent associated with super(sub)-Poissonian photon statistics. The correlation length is also an indicator of a phase structure much richer than what is revealed by the usual single-time observables, like the atomic inversion or the Mandel quality factor. In realistic experimental situations the correlations may extend over many times the decay time of the cavity. Our assertions are verified by comparing theoretical calculations with a high-precision Monte-Carlo simulation of the micromaser system.
A single beam of excited two-level atoms couples two micromasers in a series. It is shown that in the absence of dissipation the possible steady states of their fields are superpositions, of two-field trapping number states. Which one is realized depends upon the initial state of the fields and the interaction parameters, g'\ensuremath{\tau}' and g''\ensuremath{\tau}'', of the two cavities. A large number of these trapping states are pure quantum states, some of them showing entanglement of the two nonlocal micromaser fields of the form \ensuremath{\Vert}N,N+M〉\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}\ensuremath{\Vert}N+M,N〉. Here, N and N+M are arbitrary trapping numbers that belong to disconnected blocks of the photon number space and M specifies the order of correlation between the fields. The time evolution of the system toward steady states is investigated numerically, mainly concentrating on the production of pure entangled trapping states of the form discussed earlier. We describe a special procedure to amplify a number state, \ensuremath{\Vert}N,N〉, into such states that is based on conditions regarding the interaction parameters. In principle, N and M can be made arbitrarily large resulting in a steady-state nonlocal quantum superposition of distinct macroscopical fields (nonlocal ``Schr\"odinger cat''). We also present a solution of the standard master equation of a damped harmonic oscillator at finite temperature and apply it to study the effect of dissipation on the production of entangled trapping states at regular and Poissonian pump statistics.It is found that although the entanglement does not survive at a steady state it can build up in the short-time transient regime when cavity losses and the number of thermal photons are not too large. In this small-loss (large Nex{\mathit{N}}_{\mathrm{ex}}Nex​) regime the quantum correlation between the micromaser fields decays into a steady-state classical superposition at a rate that depends on the cavity lifetime and the difference (or order of correlation), M, between the superposed photon numbers. In the large-loss (small Nex{\mathit{N}}_{\mathrm{ex}}Nex​) regime, however, no transient correlation can be produced and the photon statistics spreads out towards a vacuum for increasing losses. The system undergoes a transition from an uncorrelated to a correlated behavior when the pumping parametrized by Nex{\mathit{N}}_{\mathrm{ex}}Nex​ exceeds the threshold between the large- and small-loss regimes. Thermal photons enhance the decay of the correlation and by coupling the disconnected blocks of the photon number space they populate the trapping number states of adjacent blocks. However, it is shown that the production of transient entanglement is not significantly affected by either thermal radiation or pumping fluctuations. The experimental realization of the entanglement of nonlocal micromaser fields employing these two-field trapping states of small photon numbers is shown to be feasible in the short-time transient regime using the presently available high-Q cavities and low temperatures, and could be possible on the macroscopic scale in the near future.
We present a general method for the derivation of various statistical quantities describing the detection of a beam of atoms emerging from a micromaser. The use of non-normalized conditioned density operators and a linear master equation for the dynamics between detection events is discussed as are the counting statistics, sequence statistics, and waiting time statistics. In particular, we derive expressions for the mean number of successive detections of atoms in one of any two orthogonal states of the two-level atom. We also derive expressions for the mean waiting times between detections. We show that the mean waiting times between detections of atoms in like states are equivalent to the mean waiting times calculated from the uncorrelated steady state detection rates, although like atoms are indeed correlated. The mean waiting times between detections of atoms in unlike states exhibit correlations. We evaluate the expressions for various detector efficiencies using numerical integration, reporting results for the standard micromaser arrangement in which the cavity is pumped by excited atoms and the excitation levels of the emerging atoms are measured. In addition, the atomic inversion and the Fano-Mandel function for the detection of deexcited atoms are calculated for comparison to the experimental results of Weidinger et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 3795 (1999)], who report the observation of trapping states.