Noncanonical quantum optics

Modification of the right-hand-side of canonical commutation relations (CCR) naturally occurs if one considers a harmonic oscillator with indefinite frequency. Quantization of electromagnetic field by means of such a non-CCR algebra naturally removes the infinite energy of vacuum but still results in a theory which is very similar to quantum electrodynamics. An analysis of perturbation theory shows that the non-canonical theory has an automatically built-in cut-off but requires charge/mass renormalization already at the nonrelativistic level. A simple rule allowing to compare perturbative predictions of canonical and non-canonical theories is given. The notion of a unique vacuum state is replaced by a set of different vacua. Multi-photon states are defined in the standard way but depend on the choice of vacuum. Making a simplified choice of the vacuum state we estimate corrections to atomic lifetimes, probabilities of multiphoton spontaneous and stimulated emission, and the Planck law. The results are practically identical to the standard ones. Two different candidates for a free-field Hamiltonian are compared.Comment: Completely rewritten version of quant-ph/0002003v2. There are overlaps between the papers, but sections on perturbative calculations show the same problem from different sides, therefore quant-ph/0002003v2 is not replace

Introduction to Quantum Optics

The theory of quantum propagator and time--dependent integrals of motion in quantum optics is reviewed as well as the properties of Wigner function, Q--function, and coherent state representation. Propagators and wave functions of a free particle, harmonic oscillator, and the oscillator with varying frequency are studied using time--dependent linear in position and momentum integrals of motion. Such nonclassical states of light (of quantum systems) as squeezed states, correlated states, even and odd coherent states (Schr\"odinger cat states) are considered. Photon distribution functions of Schr\"odinger cat male and female states are given, and the photon distribution function of squeezed vacuum is derived using the theory of the oscillator with varying parameters. Properties of multivariable Hermite polynomials used for the description of the multimode squeezed and correlated light and polymode Schr\"odinger cats are studied.Comment: Latex,35 pages,Lectures in Latin America Scool of Physics 199

Continuous phase-space representations for finite-dimensional quantum states and their tomography

Continuous phase spaces have become a powerful tool for describing, analyzing, and tomographically reconstructing quantum states in quantum optics and beyond. A plethora of these phase-space techniques are known, however a thorough understanding of their relations was still lacking for finite-dimensional quantum states. We present a unified approach to continuous phase-space representations which highlights their relations and tomography. The infinite-dimensional case from quantum optics is then recovered in the large-spin limit.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, v4: extended tomography analysis, added references and figure