341 research outputs found
Cat States and Single Runs for the Damped Harmonic Oscillator
We discuss the fate of initial states of the cat type for the damped harmonic
oscillator, mostly employing a linear version of the stochastic Schr\"odinger
equation. We also comment on how such cat states might be prepared and on the
relation of single realizations of the noise to single runs of experiments.Comment: 18, Revte
Optimal control of entanglement via quantum feedback
It has recently been shown that finding the optimal measurement on the
environment for stationary Linear Quadratic Gaussian control problems is a
semi-definite program. We apply this technique to the control of the
EPR-correlations between two bosonic modes interacting via a parametric
Hamiltonian at steady state. The optimal measurement turns out to be nonlocal
homodyne measurement -- the outputs of the two modes must be combined before
measurement. We also find the optimal local measurement and control technique.
This gives the same degree of entanglement but a higher degree of purity than
the local technique previously considered [S. Mancini, Phys. Rev. A {\bf 73},
010304(R) (2006)].Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure
Linear stochastic wave-equations for continuously measured quantum systems
While the linearity of the Schr\"odinger equation and the superposition
principle are fundamental to quantum mechanics, so are the backaction of
measurements and the resulting nonlinearity. It is remarkable, therefore, that
the wave-equation of systems in continuous interaction with some reservoir,
which may be a measuring device, can be cast into a linear form, even after the
degrees of freedom of the reservoir have been eliminated. The superposition
principle still holds for the stochastic wave-function of the observed system,
and exact analytical solutions are possible in sufficiently simple cases. We
discuss here the coupling to Markovian reservoirs appropriate for homodyne,
heterodyne, and photon counting measurements. For these we present a derivation
of the linear stochastic wave-equation from first principles and analyze its
physical content.Comment: 34 pages, Revte
Continuous quantum error correction via quantum feedback control
We describe a protocol for continuously protecting unknown quantum states
from decoherence that incorporates design principles from both quantum error
correction and quantum feedback control. Our protocol uses continuous
measurements and Hamiltonian operations, which are weaker control tools than
are typically assumed for quantum error correction. We develop a cost function
appropriate for unknown quantum states and use it to optimize our
state-estimate feedback. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we study our protocol
for the three-qubit bit-flip code in detail and demonstrate that it can improve
the fidelity of quantum states beyond what is achievable using quantum error
correction when the time between quantum error correction cycles is limited.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, REVTeX; references fixe
Stochastic simulations of the quantum Zeno effect
Published versio
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
Physical interpretation of stochastic Schroedinger equations in cavity QED
We propose physical interpretations for stochastic methods which have been
developed recently to describe the evolution of a quantum system interacting
with a reservoir. As opposed to the usual reduced density operator approach,
which refers to ensemble averages, these methods deal with the dynamics of
single realizations, and involve the solution of stochastic Schr\"odinger
equations. These procedures have been shown to be completely equivalent to the
master equation approach when ensemble averages are taken over many
realizations. We show that these techniques are not only convenient
mathematical tools for dissipative systems, but may actually correspond to
concrete physical processes, for any temperature of the reservoir. We consider
a mode of the electromagnetic field in a cavity interacting with a beam of two-
or three-level atoms, the field mode playing the role of a small system and the
atomic beam standing for a reservoir at finite temperature, the interaction
between them being given by the Jaynes-Cummings model. We show that the
evolution of the field states, under continuous monitoring of the state of the
atoms which leave the cavity, can be described in terms of either the Monte
Carlo Wave-Function (quantum jump) method or a stochastic Schr\"odinger
equation, depending on the system configuration. We also show that the Monte
Carlo Wave-Function approach leads, for finite temperatures, to localization
into jumping Fock states, while the diffusion equation method leads to
localization into states with a diffusing average photon number, which for
sufficiently small temperatures are close approximations to mildly squeezed
states.Comment: 12 pages RevTeX 3.0 + 6 figures (GIF format; for higher-resolution
postscript images or hardcopies contact the authors.) Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Schroedinger cat-like states by conditional measurements on a beam-splitter
A scheme for generating Schr\"{o}dinger cat-like states of a single-mode
optical field by means of conditional measurement is proposed. Feeding into a
beam splitter a squeezed vacuum and counting the photons in one of the output
channels, the conditional states in the other output channel exhibit a number
of properties that are very similar to those of superpositions of two coherent
states with opposite phases. We present analytical and numerical results for
the photon-number and quadrature-component distributions of the conditional
states and their Wigner and Husimi functions. Further, we discuss the effect of
realistic photocounting on the states.Comment: 6 figures(divided in subfigures) using a4.st
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