545 research outputs found
The noise in gravitational-wave detectors and other classical-force measurements is not influenced by test-mass quantization
It is shown that photon shot noise and radiation-pressure back-action noise
are the sole forms of quantum noise in interferometric gravitational wave
detectors that operate near or below the standard quantum limit, if one filters
the interferometer output appropriately. No additional noise arises from the
test masses' initial quantum state or from reduction of the test-mass state due
to measurement of the interferometer output or from the uncertainty principle
associated with the test-mass state. Two features of interferometers are
central to these conclusions: (i) The interferometer output (the photon number
flux N(t) entering the final photodetector) commutes with itself at different
times in the Heisenberg Picture, [N(t), N(t')] = 0, and thus can be regarded as
classical. (ii) This number flux is linear in the test-mass initial position
and momentum operators x_o and p_o, and those operators influence the measured
photon flux N(t) in manners that can easily be removed by filtering -- e.g., in
most interferometers, by discarding data near the test masses' 1 Hz swinging
freqency. The test-mass operators x_o and p_o contained in the unfiltered
output N(t) make a nonzero contribution to the commutator [N(t), N(t')]. That
contribution is cancelled by a nonzero commutation of the photon shot noise and
radiation-pressure noise, which also are contained in N(t). This cancellation
of commutators is responsible for the fact that it is possible to derive an
interferometer's standard quantum limit from test-mass considerations, and
independently from photon-noise considerations. These conclusions are true for
a far wider class of measurements than just gravitational-wave interferometers.
To elucidate them, this paper presents a series of idealized thought
experiments that are free from the complexities of real measuring systems.Comment: Submitted to Physical Review D; Revtex, no figures, prints to 14
pages. Second Revision 1 December 2002: minor rewording for clarity,
especially in Sec. II.B.3; new footnote 3 and passages before Eq. (2.35) and
at end of Sec. III.B.
Phase diffusion pattern in quantum nondemolition systems
We quantitatively analyze the dynamics of the quantum phase distribution
associated with the reduced density matrix of a system, as the system evolves
under the influence of its environment with an energy-preserving quantum
nondemolition (QND) type of coupling. We take the system to be either an
oscillator (harmonic or anharmonic) or a two-level atom (or equivalently, a
spin-1/2 system), and model the environment as a bath of harmonic oscillators,
initially in a general squeezed thermal state. The impact of the different
environmental parameters is explicitly brought out as the system starts out in
various initial states. The results are applicable to a variety of physical
systems now studied experimentally with QND measurements.Comment: 18 pages, REVTeX, 8 figure
Measuring nanomechanical motion with an imprecision far below the standard quantum limit
We demonstrate a transducer of nanomechanical motion based on cavity enhanced
optical near-fields capable of achieving a shot-noise limited imprecision more
than 10 dB below the standard quantum limit (SQL). Residual background due to
fundamental thermodynamical frequency fluctuations allows a total imprecision 3
dB below the SQL at room temperature (corresponding to 600 am/Hz^(1/2) in
absolute units) and is known to reduce to negligible values for moderate
cryogenic temperatures. The transducer operates deeply in the quantum
backaction dominated regime, prerequisite for exploring quantum backaction,
measurement-induced squeezing and accessing sub-SQL sensitivity using
backaction evading techniques
Zeno and Anti Zeno effect for a two level system in a squeezed bath
We discuss the appearance of Zeno (QZE) or anti-Zeno (QAE) effect in an
exponentially decaying system. We consider the quantum dynamics of a
continuously monitored two level system interacting with a squeezed bath. We
find that the behavior of the system depends critically on the way in which the
squeezed bath is prepared. For specific choices of the squeezing phase the
system shows Zeno or anti-Zeno effect in conditions for which it would decay
exponentially if no measurements were done. This result allows for a clear
interpretation in terms of the equivalent spin system interacting with a
fictitious magnetic field.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures;added references for section 4;changes in the
nomenclatur
Phonon laser action in a tunable, two-level photonic molecule
The phonon analog of an optical laser has long been a subject of interest. We
demonstrate a compound microcavity system, coupled to a radio-frequency
mechanical mode, that operates in close analogy to a two-level laser system. An
inversion produces gain, causing phonon laser action above a pump power
threshold of around 50 W. The device features a continuously tunable, gain
spectrum to selectively amplify mechanical modes from radio frequency to
microwave rates. Viewed as a Brillouin process, the system accesses a regime in
which the phonon plays what has traditionally been the role of the Stokes wave.
For this reason, it should also be possible to controllably switch between
phonon and photon laser regimes. Cooling of the mechanical mode is also
possible.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
QND measurements for future gravitational-wave detectors
Second-generation interferometric gravitational-wave detectors will be
operating at the Standard Quantum Limit, a sensitivity limitation set by the
trade off between measurement accuracy and quantum back action, which is
governed by the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. We review several schemes
that allows the quantum noise of interferometers to surpass the Standard
Quantum Limit significantly over a broad frequency band. Such schemes may be an
important component of the design of third-generation detectors.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures, 1 table; In version 2, more tutorial information
on quantum noise in GW interferometer and several new items into Reference
list were adde
Cooling a mechanical resonator via coupling to a tunable double quantum dot
We study the cooling of a mechanical resonator (MR) that is capacitively
coupled to a double quantum dot (DQD). The MR is cooled by the dynamical
backaction induced by the capacitive coupling between the DQD and the MR. The
DQD is excited by a microwave field and afterwards a tunneling event results in
the decay of the excited state of the DQD. An important advantage of this
system is that both the energy level splitting and the decay rate of the DQD
can be well tuned by varying the gate voltage. We find that the steady average
occupancy, below unity, of the MR can be achieved by changing both the decay
rate of the excited state and the detuning between the transition frequency of
the DQD and the microwave frequency, in analogy to the laser sideband cooling
of an atom or trapped ion in atomic physics. Our results show that the cooling
of the MR to the ground state is experimentally implementable.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure
Gravitational lensing by gravitational waves
Gravitational lensing by gravitational wave is considered. We notice that
although final and initial direction of photons coincide, displacement between
final and initial trajectories occurs. This displacement is calculated
analytically for the plane gravitational wave pulse. Estimations for
observations are discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure
Chaos and quantum-nondemolition measurements
The problem of chaotic behavior in quantum mechanics is investigated against the background of the theory of quantum-nondemolition (QND) measurements. The analysis is based on two relevant features: The outcomes of a sequence of QND measurements are unambiguously predictable, and these measurements actually can be performed on one single system without perturbing its time evolution. Consequently, QND measurements represent an appropriate framework to analyze the conditions for the occurrence of ‘‘deterministic randomness’’ in quantum systems. The general arguments are illustrated by a discussion of a quantum system with a time evolution that possesses nonvanishing algorithmic complexity
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