Asymptotical photon distributions in the dissipative Dynamical Casimir Effect

Asymptotical formulas for the photon distribution function of a quantum oscillator with time-dependent frequency and damping coefficients, interacting with a thermal reservoir, are derived in the case of a large mean number of quanta. Different regimes of excitation of an initial thermal state with an arbitrary temperature are considered. New formulas are used to predict the statistical properties of the electromagnetic field created in the experiments on the Dynamical Casimir Effect which are now under preparation.Comment: 11 pages, accepted contribution to CEWQO 2009 proceedings (to appear in Physica Scripta

Decoherence and thermalization dynamics of a quantum oscillator

We introduce the quantitative measures characterizing the rates of decoherence and thermalization of quantum systems. We study the time evolution of these measures in the case of a quantum harmonic oscillator whose relaxation is described in the framework of the standard master equation, for various initial states (coherent, `cat', squeezed and number). We establish the conditions under which the true decoherence measure can be approximated by the linear entropy $1-{Tr}\hat\rho^2$. We show that at low temperatures and for highly excited initial states the decoherence process consists of three distinct stages with quite different time scales. In particular, the `cat' states preserve 50% of the initial coherence for a long time interval which increases logarithmically with increase of the initial energy.Comment: 24 pages, LaTex, 8 ps figures, accepted for publication in J. Opt.

Justification of the symmetric damping model of the dynamical Casimir effect in a cavity with a semiconductor mirror

A "microscopic" justification of the "symmetric damping" model of a quantum oscillator with time-dependent frequency and time-dependent damping is given. This model is used to predict results of experiments on simulating the dynamical Casimir effect in a cavity with a photo-excited semiconductor mirror. It is shown that the most general bilinear time-dependent coupling of a selected oscillator (field mode) to a bath of harmonic oscillators results in two equal friction coefficients for the both quadratures, provided all the coupling coefficients are proportional to a single arbitrary function of time whose duration is much shorter than the periods of all oscillators. The choice of coupling in the rotating wave approximation form leads to the "mimimum noise" model of the quantum damped oscillator, introduced earlier in a pure phenomenological way.Comment: 9 pages, typos corrected, corresponds to the published version, except for the reference styl

Vibrating Cavities - A numerical approach

We present a general formalism allowing for efficient numerical calculation of the production of massless scalar particles from vacuum in a one-dimensional dynamical cavity, i.e. the dynamical Casimir effect. By introducing a particular parametrization for the time evolution of the field modes inside the cavity we derive a coupled system of first-order linear differential equations. The solutions to this system determine the number of created particles and can be found by means of numerical methods for arbitrary motions of the walls of the cavity. To demonstrate the method which accounts for the intermode coupling we investigate the creation of massless scalar particles in a one-dimensional vibrating cavity by means of three particular cavity motions. We compare the numerical results with analytical predictions as well as a different numerical approach.Comment: 28 pages, 19 figures, accepted for publication in J. Opt. B: Quantum Semiclass. Op

Generation of microwave fields in cavities with laser-excited nonlinear media: competition between the second- and third-order optical nonlinearities

We discuss a scheme for the parametric amplification of the quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic vacuum in a three-dimensional microwave resonator, and report the preliminary measurements to test its feasibility. In the present experimental scheme, the fundamental mode of a microwave cavity is nonadiabatically perturbed by modulating the index of refraction of the nonlinear optical crystal enclosed therein. Intense, multi-GHz laser pulses, such as those delivered by a mode-locked laser source, impinge on the crystal to accomplish the n-index modulation. We theoretically analyze the process of parametric generation, which is related to the third-order nonlinear coefficient \u3c7(3) of the nonlinear crystal, and assess the suitable experimental conditions for generating real photons from the vacuum. Second-order nonlinear processes are first analyzed as a possible source of spurious photons in quantum vacuum experiments when an ideal, mode-locked laser source is considered. The combination of a crystal non-null \u3c7(2) coefficient and a real mode-locked laser system\u2014i.e. one featuring offset-fromcarrier noise and unwanted secondary oscillations\u2014is also experimentally investigated, paving the way for future experiments in three-dimensional cavities

Properties of Squeezed-State Excitations

The photon distribution function of a discrete series of excitations of squeezed coherent states is given explicitly in terms of Hermite polynomials of two variables. The Wigner and the coherent-state quasiprobabilities are also presented in closed form through the Hermite polynomials and their limiting cases. Expectation values of photon numbers and their dispersion are calculated. Some three-dimensional plots of photon distributions for different squeezing parameters demonstrating oscillatory behaviour are given.Comment: Latex,35 pages,submitted to Quant.Semiclassical Op

Quantum master equations from classical Lagrangians with two stochastic forces

We show how a large family of master equations, describing quantum Brownian motion of a harmonic oscillator with translationally invariant damping, can be derived within a phenomenological approach, based on the assumption that an environment can be simulated by two classical stochastic forces. This family is determined by three time-dependent correlation functions (besides the frequency and damping coefficients), and it includes as special cases the known master equations, whose dissipative part is bilinear with respect to the operators of coordinate and momentum.Comment: 10 pages, no figure

Noether's Theorem and time-dependent quantum invariants

The time dependent-integrals of motion, linear in position and momentum operators, of a quantum system are extracted from Noether's theorem prescription by means of special time-dependent variations of coordinates. For the stationary case of the generalized two-dimensional harmonic oscillator, the time-independent integrals of motion are shown to correspond to special Bragg-type symmetry properties. A detailed study for the non-stationary case of this quantum system is presented. The linear integrals of motion are constructed explicitly for the case of varying mass and coupling strength. They are obtained also from Noether's theorem. The general treatment for a multi-dimensional quadratic system is indicated, and it is shown that the time-dependent variations that give rise to the linear invariants, as conserved quantities, satisfy the corresponding classical homogeneous equations of motion for the coordinates.Comment: Plain TeX, 23 pages, preprint of Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, UNAM Departamento de F\ii sica and Matem\'aticas Aplicadas, No. 01 (1994

Homodyne extimation of quantum states purity by exploiting covariant uncertainty relation

We experimentally verify uncertainty relations for mixed states in the tomographic representation by measuring the radiation field tomograms, i.e. homodyne distributions. Thermal states of single-mode radiation field are discussed in details as paradigm of mixed quantum state. By considering the connection between generalised uncertainty relations and optical tomograms is seen that the purity of the states can be retrieved by statistical analysis of the homodyne data. The purity parameter assumes a relevant role in quantum information where the effective fidelities of protocols depend critically on the purity of the information carrier states. In this contest the homodyne detector becomes an easy to handle purity-meter for the state on-line with a running quantum information protocol.Comment: accepted for publication into Physica Script

Quantum singular oscillator as a model of two-ion trap: an amplification of transition probabilities due to small time variations of the binding potential

Following the paper by M. Combescure [Ann. Phys. (NY) 204, 113 (1990)], we apply the quantum singular time dependent oscillator model to describe the relative one dimensional motion of two ions in a trap. We argue that the model can be justified for low energy excited states with the quantum numbers $n\ll n_{max}\sim 100$, provided that the dimensionless constant characterizing the strength of the repulsive potential is large enough, $g_*\sim 10^5$. Time dependent Gaussian-like wave packets generalizing odd coherent states of the harmonic oscillator, and excitation number eigenstates are constructed. We show that the relative motion of the ions, in contradistinction to its center of mass counterpart, is extremely sensitive to the time dependence of the binding harmonic potential, since the large value of $g_*$ results in a significant amplification of the transition probabilities between energy eigenstate even for slow time variations of the frequency.Comment: 19 pages, LaTeX, 5 eps-figures, to appear on Phys. Rev. A, one reference correcte