Quantum optics coherent states

Photons in quantum optical cavities also constitute excellent qubit candidates [52]. Resonant coupling of atoms with a single mode of the radiation field was experimentally achieved 25 years ago [53], and eventually the coherent coupling of quantum optical cavities with atoms or (simple) molecules was suggested as a means to achieve stable quantum memories in a hybrid quantum processor [54]. There might be a role to play for molecular spin qubits in this kind of hybrid quantum devices that combine solid-state with flying qubits. 

A suitable choice of the variational wave functions for various electron-phonon two-level systems is a long-standing problem in solid state physics as well as in quantum optics. For two-level reflection symmetric systems with intralevel electron-phonon interaction the approach with a variational two-center squeezed coherent phonon wave function was found to yield the lowest ground state energy. The two-center wave function was constructed as a linear combination of the phonon wave functions related to both levels introducing new VP. 

To summarize, we have studied the interaction of two weak quantum fields with an optically dense medium of coherently driven four-level atoms in tripod configuration. We have presented a detailed semiclassical as well as quantum analysis of the system. The main conclusion that has emerged from this study is that optically dense vapors of tripod atoms are capable of realizing a novel regime of symmetric, extremely efficient nonlinear interaction of two multimode single-photon pulses, whereby the combined state of the system acquires a large conditional phase shift that can easily exceed 1r. Thus our scheme may pave the way to photon-based quantum information applications, such as deterministic all-optical quantum computation, dense coding and teleportation [Nielsen 2000]. We have also analyzed the behavior of the multimode coherent state and shown that the restriction on the classical correspondence of the coherent states severely limits their usefulness for QI applications. 

Quantum coherence is extremely sensitive to environmental interactions. This is a main stumbling block in the attempts to build quantum computers, and in spite of the fact that such devices are planned to be based on very weakly interacting systems (entanglement of photons or atoms well isolated in cavities) it is extremely difficult to preserve coherence over a sufficiently large number of basic operations steps. Coherent states in molecules are still more perturbed, as displayed for instance by the difference between the spectra of NHs and AsHs gases [Omnes 1994], Here, the H-atom in NH3 is delocalized in a quantum superposition, being on both sides of the //.rplane, while the spatial coherence of the heavier As-atom disappears during the time of observation which results in quite different optical properties. 

This work is intended as an attempt to present two essentially different constructions of harmonic oscillator states in a FD Hilbert space. We propose some new definitions of the states and find their explicit forms in the Fock representation. For the convenience of the reader, we also bring together several known FD quantum-optical states, thus making our exposition more self-contained. We shall discuss FD coherent states, FD phase coherent states, FD displaced number states, FD Schrodinger cats, and FD squeezed vacuum. We shall show some intriguing properties of the states with the help of the discrete Wigner function. 

The method described in the previous sections can be easily generalized to be useful for generation of various FD quantum-optical states different from the FD coherent state. Thus, we shall show an example of how to adapt our method to generate the FD squeezed vacuum [10]. In the first part of this work [see Eq. (78) in Ref. 1], we have defined the (,v + 1)-dimensional generalized squeezed vacuum to be... 

Whilst the above is perfectly adequate for the description of processes observed with continuous-wave (cw) input, proper representation of the optical response to pulsed laser radiation requires one further modification to the theory. It is commonly thought difficult to represent pulses of light using quantum field theory indeed, it is impossible if a number state basis is employed. However by expressing the radiation as a product of coherent states with a definite phase relationship, it is relatively simple to construct a wavepacket to model pulsed laser radiation [39]. The physical basis for this approach is that pulses necessarily have a finite linewidth and therefore in fact entail a large number of radiation modes, so that for the pump radiation, it is appropriate to construct a coherent superposition... 

Phase-dependent coherence and interference can be induced in a multi-level atomic system coupled by multiple laser fields. Two simple examples are presented here, a three-level A-type system coupled by four laser fields and a four-level double A-type system coupled also by four laser fields. The four laser fields induce the coherent nonlinear optical processes and open multiple transitions channels. The quantum interference among the multiple channels depends on the relative phase difference of the laser fields. Simple experiments show that constructive or destructive interference associated with multiple two-photon Raman channels in the two coherently coupled systems can be controlled by the relative phase of the laser fields. Rich spectral features exhibiting multiple transparency windows and absorption peaks are observed. The multicolor EIT-type system may be useful for a variety of application in coherent nonlinear optics and quantum optics such as manipulation of group velocities of multicolor, multiple light pulses, for optical switching at ultra-low light intensities, for precision spectroscopic measurements, and for phase control of the quantum state manipulation and quantum memory. 

Linearly polarized light provides another instructive illustration of superposition states in quantum optics. As discussed in Sect. 3.3, unpolarized light can be viewed as a mixture of photons with all possible linear polarizations. Light that is polarized at an angle 6 with respect to an arbitrary vertical axis can be viewed as a coherent superposition of vertically and horizontally polarized light with coefficients Cy=cos(0) and Ch = sin(0) ... 

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