Effect of atomic beam alignment on photon correlation measurements in cavity QED

Quantum trajectory simulations of a cavity QED system comprising an atomic beam traversing a standing-wave cavity are carried out. The delayed photon coincident rate for forwards scattering is computed and compared with the measurements of Rempe et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 67, 1727 (1991)] and Foster et al. [Phys. Rev. A 61, 053821 (2000)]. It is shown that a moderate atomic beam misalignment can account for the degradation of the predicted correlation. Fits to the experimental data are made in the weak-field limit with a single adjustable parameter--the atomic beam tilt from perpendicular to the cavity axis. Departures of the measurement conditions from the weak-field limit are discussed.Comment: 15 pages and 13 figure

Generating single-mode behavior in fiber-coupled optical cavities

We propose to turn two resonant distant cavities effectively into one by coupling them via an optical fiber which is coated with two-level atoms [Franson et al., Phys. Rev. A 70, 062302 (2004)]. The purpose of the atoms is to destructively measure the evanescent electric field of the fiber on a time scale which is long compared to the time it takes a photon to travel from one cavity to the other. Moreover, the boundary conditions imposed by the setup should support a small range of standing waves inside the fiber, including one at the frequency of the cavities. In this way, the fiber provides an additional decay channel for one common cavity field mode but not for the other. If the corresponding decay rate is sufficiently large, this mode decouples effectively from the system dynamics. A single non-local resonator mode is created.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, final version, accepted for publicatio

Unconditional Pointer States from Conditional Master Equations

When part of the environment responsible for decoherence is used to extract information about the decohering system, the preferred {\it pointer states} remain unchanged. This conclusion -- reached for a specific class of models -- is investigated in a general setting of conditional master equations using suitable generalizations of predictability sieve. We also find indications that the einselected states are easiest to infer from the measurements carried out on the environment.Comment: 4 pages, 3 .eps figures; final version to appear in Phys.Rev.Let

Stationary inversion of a two level system coupled to an off-resonant cavity with strong dissipation

We present an off-resonant excitation scheme that realizes pronounced stationary inversion in a two level system. The created inversion exploits a cavity-assisted two photon resonance to enhance the multi-photon regime of nonlinear cavity QED and survives even in a semiconductor environment, where the cavity decay rate is comparable to the cavity-dot coupling rate. Exciton populations of greater than 0.75 are obtained in the presence of realistic decay and pure dephasing. Quantum trajectory simulations and quantum master equation calculations help elucidate the underlying physics and delineate the limitations of a simplified rate equation model. Experimental signatures of inversion and multi-photon cavity QED are predicted in the fluorescence intensity and second-order correlation function measured as a function of drive power.Comment: 4 page lette

Non-Markovian master equation for a damped oscillator with time-varying parameters

We derive an exact non-Markovian master equation that generalizes the previous work [Hu, Paz and Zhang, Phys. Rev. D {\bf 45}, 2843 (1992)] to damped harmonic oscillators with time-varying parameters. This is achieved by exploiting the linearity of the system and operator solution in Heisenberg picture. Our equation governs the non-Markovian quantum dynamics when the system is modulated by external devices. As an application, we apply our equation to parity kick decoupling problems. The time-dependent dissipative coefficients in the master equation are shown to be modified drastically when the system is driven by $\pi$ pulses. For coherence protection to be effective, our numerical results indicate that kicking period should be shorter than memory time of the bath. The effects of using soft pulses in an ohmic bath are also discussed

Quantum feedback cooling of a single trapped ion in front of a mirror

We develop a theory of quantum feedback cooling of a single ion trapped in front of a mirror. By monitoring the motional sidebands of the light emitted into the mirror mode we infer the position of the ion, and act back with an appropriate force to cool the ion. We derive a feedback master equation along the lines of the quantum feedback theory developed by Wiseman and Milburn, which provides us with cooling times and final temperatures as a function of feedback gain and various system parameters.Comment: 15 pages, 11 Figure

Entanglement signature in the mode structure of a single photon

It is shown that entanglement, which is a quantum correlation property of at least two subsystems, is imprinted in the mode structure of a single photon. The photon, which is emitted by two coupled cavities, carries the information on the concurrence of the two intracavity fields. This can be useful for recording the entanglement dynamics of two cavity fields and for entanglement transfer.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Raman-assisted Rabi resonances in two-mode cavity QED

The dynamics of a vibronic system in a lossy two-mode cavity is studied, with the first mode being resonant to the electronic transition and the second one being nearly resonant due to Raman transitions. We derive analytical solutions for the dynamics of this system. For a properly chosen detuning of the second mode from the exact Raman resonance, we obtain conditions that are closely related to the phenomenon of Rabi resonance as it is well known in laser physics. Such resonances can be observed in the spontaneous emission spectra, where the spectrum of the second mode in the case of weak Raman coupling is enhanced substantially.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Quantum State Diffusion and Time Correlation Functions

In computing the spectra of quantum mechanical systems one encounters the Fourier transforms of time correlation functions, as given by the quantum regression theorem for systems described by master equations. Quantum state diffusion (QSD) gives a useful method of solving these problems by unraveling the master equation into stochastic trajectories; but there is no generally accepted definition of a time correlation function for a single QSD trajectory. In this paper we show how QSD can be used to calculate these spectra directly; by formally solving the equations which arise, we arrive at a natural definition for a two-time correlation function in QSD, which depends explicitly on both the stochastic noise of the particular trajectory and the time of measurement, and which agrees in the mean with the ensemble average definition of correlation functions.Comment: 16 pages standard LaTeX + 1 figure (uuencoded postscript) Numerous minor revisions and clarifications. To appear in J. Mod. Optic

Non-classical photon pair generation in atomic vapours

A scheme for the generation of non-classical pairs of photons in atomic vapours is proposed. The scheme exploits the fact that the cross correlation of the emission of photons from the extreme transitions of a four-level cascade system shows anti-bunching which has not been reported earlier and which is unlike the case of the three level cascade emission which shows bunching. The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality which is the ratio of cross-correlation to the auto correlation function in this case is estimated to be $10^3-10^6$ for controllable time delay, and is one to four orders of magnitude larger compared to previous experiments. The choice of Doppler free geometry in addition to the fact that at three photon resonance the excitation/deexcitation processes occur in a very narrow frequency band, ensures cleaner signals.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figure