We discuss the roles of the macroscopic limit and of different system-environment interactions in the quantum-classical transition for a chaotic system. We consider the kicked harmonic oscillator subject to reservoirs that correspond in the classical case to purely dissipative or purely diffusive behavior, in a situation that can be implemented in ion trap experiments. In the dissipative case, we derive an expression for the time at which quantum and classical predictions become different (breaking time) and show that a complete quantum-classical correspondence is not possible in the chaotic regime. For the diffusive environment we estimate the minimum value of the diffusion coefficient necessary to retrieve the classical limit and also show numerical evidence that, for diffusion below this threshold, the breaking time behaves, essentially, as in the case of the system without a reservoir.
Large transporting regular islands are found in the classical phase space of a modified kicked rotor system in which the kicking potential is reversed after every two kicks. The corresponding quantum system, for a variety of system parameters and over long time scales, is shown to display energy absorption that is significantly faster than that associated with the underlying classical anomalous diffusion. The results are of interest to both areas of quantum chaos and quantum control.
We show that classical-quantum correspondence of center of mass motion in two coupled delta-kicked rotors can be obtained from intrinsic decoherence of the system itself which occurs due to the entanglement of the center of mass motion to the internal degree of freedom without coupling to external environment.
We propose an experimental configuration, within an ion trap, by which a quantum mechanical delta-kicked harmonic oscillator could be realized, and investigated. We show how to directly measure the sensitivity of the ion motion to small variations in the external parameters.
The influence of an initial momentum on the appearance of "quantum resonances" in the delta-kicked rotor system is explored experimentally. We show that for certain initial momenta, a resonance can be negated entirely, whereas at others a resonance can be made to appear. At a larger number of kicks, all resonances are shown to narrow. We show that as a consequence, the individual "diffraction peaks" may split. We compare our results to numerical simulations as well as analytical theory.
We report an experimental investigation of momentum diffusion in the delta-function kicked rotor where time symmetry is broken by a two-period kicking cycle and spatial symmetry by an alternating linear potential. We exploit this, and a technique involving a moving optical potential, to create an asymmetry in the momentum diffusion that is due to the classical chaotic diffusion. This represents a realization of a type of Hamiltonian quantum ratchet.
We experimentally investigate the effects of phase noise on the resonant and non-resonant dynamics of the atom-optics kicked rotor. Employing sinusoidal phase modulation at various frequencies, resonances are found corresponding to periodic phase shifts, resulting in the effective transformation of quantum anti-resonances into resonances and vice-versa. The stability of the resonance is analysed, with the aid of experiments, epsilon-classical theory and numerical simulations, and is found to be surprisingly robust against phase noise. Finally we look into the effects of phase noise on dynamica…
We propose an efficient procedure for numerically evolving the Delta Kicked Harmonic Oscillator. The method allows for longer and more accurate simulations of the system as well as a simple procedure for calculating the systems Floquet eigenstates and quasi-energies. The method is used to examine the dynamical behaviour of the system in cases where the ratio of the kicking frequency to the systems natural frequency is both rational and irrational.
The sensitivity of the fidelity in the kicked rotor to an acceleration is experimentally and theoretically investigated. We used a Bose-Einstein condensate exposed to a sequence of pulses from a standing light wave followed by a single reversal pulse in which the standing wave was shifted by half a wavelength. The features of the fidelity "spectrum" as a function of acceleration are presented. This work may find application in the measurement of temperature of an atomic sample.
We obtain the tomogram of squeezed correlated states of a quantum parametric damped oscillator in an explicit form. We study the damping within the framework of the Caldirola--Kanai model and chose the parametric excitation in the form of a very short pulse simulated by a delta-kick of frequency; the squeezing phenomenon is reviewed. The cases of strong and weak damping are investigated.
Under certain conditions, the quantum delta-kicked harmonic oscillator displays quantum resonances. We consider an atom-optical realization of the delta-kicked harmonic oscillator, and present a theoretical discussion of the quantum resonances that could be observed in such a system. Having outlined our model of the physical system we derive the values at which quantum resonances occur and relate these to potential experimental parameters. We discuss the observable effects of the quantum resonances, using the results of numerical simulations. We develop a physical explanation for the quantum r…
We show that heating of harmonically trapped ions by periodic delta kicks is dramatically enhanced at isolated values of the Lamb-Dicke parameter. At these values, quasienergy eigenstates localized on island structures undergo avoided crossings with extended web-states.
The quantum dynamics of a periodically driven system, the delta-kicked accelerator, is investigated in the semiclassical and pseudo-classical regimes, where quantum accelerator modes are observed. We construct the evolution operator of this classically chaotic system explicitly. If certain quantum resonance conditions are fullfilled, we show one can reduce the evolution operator to a finite matrix, whose eigenvectors are the quasi-eigenstates. These are represented by their Husimi functions. In so doing, we are able to directly compare the pure quantum states with the classical states. In the …
We study multifractal properties in the spectrum of effective time-independent Hamiltonians obtained using a perturbative method for a class of delta-kicked systems. The evolution operator in the time-dependent problem is factorized into an initial kick, an evolution dictated by a time-independent Hamiltonian, and a final kick. We have used the double kicked $SU(2)$ system and the kicked Harper model to study butterfly spectrum in the corresponding effective Hamiltonians. We have obtained a generic class of $SU(2)$ Hamiltonians showing self-similar spectrum. The statistics of the generalized f…
We investigate the quantum-classical transition in the delta-kicked rotor and the attainment of the classical limit in terms of measurement-induced state-localization. It is possible to study the transition by fixing the environmentally induced disturbance at a sufficiently small value, and examining the dynamics as the system is made more macroscopic. When the system action is relatively small, the dynamics is quantum mechanical and when the system action is sufficiently large there is a transition to classical behavior. The dynamics of the rotor in the region of transition, characterized by …
We investigate the parametric fluctuations in the quantum survival probability of an open version of the delta-kicked rotor model in the deep quantum regime. Spectral arguments [Guarneri I and Terraneo M 2001 Phys. Rev. E vol. 65 015203(R)] predict the existence of parametric fractal fluctuations owing to the strong dynamical localisation of the eigenstates of the kicked rotor. We discuss the possibility of observing such dynamically-induced fractality in the quantum survival probability as a function of the kicking period for the atom-optics realisation of the kicked rotor. The influence of t…
We experimentally verify the analytical expressions that exist for the diffusion rate in the quantum delta kicked rotor system for small numbers of kicks. We show development of diffusion resonances from two to five kicks, and of multiple resonances for high kick strengths. Furthermore, we show that, in contrast to classical predictions, the results are purely periodic in the kick period, and reproduce the predicted quantum- and diffusion resonances.
We review the theoretical model and experimental realization of the atom optics $δ-$kicked rotor (AOKR), a paradigm of classical and quantum chaos. We have performed a number of experiments with an all-optical Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in a periodic standing wave potential in an AOKR system. We discuss results of the investigation of the phenomena of quantum resonances in the AOKR. An interesting feature of the momentum distribution of the atoms obtained as a result of short pulses of light, is the variance of the momentum distribution or the kinetic energy $<p^{2}>/2m$ in units of the re…
We study quantum particle dynamics in a box and driven by PT-symmetric, delta-kicking complex potential. Such dynamical characteristics as the average kinetic energy as function of time and quasi-energy at different values of the kicking parameters. Breaking of the PT-symmetry at certain values of the non-Hermitian kicking parameter is shown. Experimental realization of the model is also discussed.
We introduce kicked $p$-spin models describing a family of transverse Ising-like models for an ensemble of spin-$1/2$ particles with all-to-all $p$-body interaction terms occurring periodically in time as delta-kicks. This is the natural generalization of the well-studied quantum kicked top ($p$=2)[Haake, Kuś, and Scharf, Z. Phys. B 65, 381 (1987)]. We fully characterize the classical nonlinear dynamics of these models, including the transition to global Hamiltonian chaos. The classical analysis allows us to build a classification for this family of models, distinguishing between $p=2$ and $p>…
Discrete time (coined) quantum walks are produced by the repeated application of a constant unitary transformation to a quantum system. By recasting these walks into the setting of periodic perturbations to an otherwise freely evolving system we introduce the concept of a stroboscopic quantum walk. Through numerical simulation, we establish the link between families of stroboscopic walks and quantum resonances. These are observed in the nonlinear systems of quantum chaos theory such as the delta-kicked rotator or the delta-kicked accelerator.
Long-lasting quantum exponential spreading was recently found in a simple but very rich dynamical model, namely, an on-resonance double-kicked rotor model [J. Wang, I. Guarneri, G. Casati, and J. B. Gong, Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 234104 (2011)]. The underlying mechanism, unrelated to the chaotic motion in the classical limit but resting on quasi-integrable motion in a pseudoclassical limit, is identified for one special case. By presenting a detailed study of the same model, this work offers a framework to explain long-lasting quantum exponential spreading under much more general conditions. In p…
We analyze the effects of a nonlinear cubic perturbation on the delta-Kicked Rotor. We consider two different models, in which the nonlinear term acts either in the position or in the momentum representation. We numerically investigate the modifications induced by the nonlinearity in the quantum transport in both localized and resonant regimes and a comparison between the results for the two models is presented. Analyzing the momentum distributions and the increase of the mean square momentum, we find that the quantum resonances asymptotically are very stable with respect to the nonlinear pert…
We consider a linear chain made of spins of one half in contact with a dissipative environment for which periodic delta-kicks are applied to the qubits of the linear chain in two different configurations: kicks applied to a single qubit and simultaneous kicks applied to two qubits of the linear chain. In both cases the system reaches a non-equilibrium stationary condition in the long time limit. We study the transient to the quasi stationary states and their properties as function of the kick parameters in the single kicked qubit case and report the emergence of stationary entanglement between…
We study classical and quantum dynamics of a kicked relativistic particle confined in a one dimensional box. It is found that in classical case for chaotic motion the average kinetic energy grows in time, while for mixed regime the growth is suppressed. However, in case of regular motion energy fluctuates around certain value. Quantum dynamics is treated by solving the time-dependent Dirac equation for delta-kicking potential, whose exact solution is obtained for single kicking period. In quantum case, depending on the values of the kicking parameters the average kinetic energy can be quasi pe…
We present experimental observations of diffusion resonances for the quantum kicked rotor with weak decoherence. Cold caesium atoms are subject to a pulsed standing wave of near-resonant light, with spontaneous emission providing environmental coupling. The mean energy as a function of the pulse period is determined during the late-time diffusion regime for a constant probability of spontaneous emission per unit time. Structure in the late-time energy is seen to increase with physical kicking strength. The observed structure is related to Shepelyansky's predictions of the initial quantum diffu…
We study the quantum dynamics of a peculiar driven system, a Bose gas subjected to periodically kicked interactions. In the limit of infinitely short kicks, this system was recently shown to exhibit a fast exponential spreading of the wave function. Here we examine this problem for kicks or arbitrary duration and show that, in this case, the spreading is not exponential but rather subdiffusive at long time. This phenomenon stems from the competition between the kinetic and interaction energies within the kicks, which is absent in the limit of delta kicks. Our analysis further shows that the br…
General relation is derived which expresses the fidelity of quantum dynamics, measuring the stability of time evolution to small static variation in the hamiltonian, in terms of ergodicity of an observable generating the perturbation as defined by its time correlation function. Fidelity for ergodic dynamics is predicted to decay exponentially on time-scale proportional to delta^(-2) where delta is the strength of perturbation, whereas faster, typically gaussian decay on shorter time scale proportional to delta^(-1) is predicted for integrable, or generally non-ergodic dynamics. This surprising…
Using a semiclassical ansatz we analytically predict for the fidelity of delta-kicked rotors the occurrence of revivals and the disappearance of intermediate revival peaks arising from the breaking of a symmetry in the initial conditions. A numerical verification of the predicted effects is given and experimental ramifications are discussed.
We consider the influence of the inclusion of interatomic interactions on the delta-kicked accelerator model. Our analysis concerns in particular quantum accelerator modes, namely quantum ballistic transport near quantal resonances. The atomic interaction is modelled by a Gross-Pitaevskii cubic nonlinearity, and we address both attractive (focusing) and repulsive (defocusing) cases. The most remarkable effect is enhancement or damping of the accelerator modes, depending on the sign of the nonlinear parameter. We provide arguments showing that the effect persists beyond mean-field description, …
We derive a simple and general relation between the fidelity of quantum motion, characterizing the stability of quantum dynamics with respect to arbitrary static perturbation of the unitary evolution propagator, and the integrated time auto-correlation function of the generator of perturbation. Surprisingly, this relation predicts the slower decay of fidelity the faster decay of correlations is. In particular, for non-ergodic and non-mixing dynamics, where asymptotic decay of correlations is absent, a qualitatively different and faster decay of fidelity is predicted on a time scale 1/delta as …
In this paper we review our recent work on the theoretical approach to quantum Loschmidt echoes, i.e. various properties of the so called echo dynamics -- the composition of forward and backward time evolutions generated by two slightly different Hamiltonians, such as the state autocorrelation function (fidelity) and the purity of a reduced density matrix traced over a subsystem (purity fidelity). Our main theoretical result is a linear response formalism, expressing the fidelity and purity fidelity in terms of integrated time autocorrelation function of the generator of the perturbation. Surp…
We have studied statistical properties of the values of the Wigner function W(x) of 1D quantum maps on compact 2D phase space of finite area V. For this purpose we have defined a Wigner function probability distribution P(w) = (1/V) int delta(w-W(x)) dx, which has, by definition, fixed first and second moment. In particular, we concentrate on relaxation of time evolving quantum state in terms of W(x), starting from a coherent state. We have shown that for a classically chaotic quantum counterpart the distribution P(w) in the semi-classical limit becomes a Gaussian distribution that is fully de…
We consider the case of a cubic nonlinear Schrödinger equation with an additional chaotic potential, in the sense that such a potential produces chaotic dynamics in classical mechanics. We derive and describe an appropriate semiclassical limit to such a nonlinear Schrödinger equation, using a semiclassical interpretation of the Wigner function, and relate this to the hydrodynamic limit of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation used in the context of Bose-Einstein condensation. We investigate a specific example of a Gross-Pitaevskii equation with such a chaotic potential: the one-dimensional delta-kicke…
We present a detailed numerical study of a chaotic classical system and its quantum counterpart. The system is a special case of a kicked rotor and for certain parameter values possesses cantori dividing chaotic regions of the classical phase space. We investigate the diffusion of particles through a cantorus; classical diffusion is observed but quantum diffusion is only significant when the classical phase space area escaping through the cantorus per kicking period greatly exceeds Planck's constant. A quantum analysis confirms that the cantori act as barriers. We numerically estimate the clas…
We study the problem of the basis of an open quantum system, under a quantum chaotic environment, which is preferred in view of its stationary reduced density matrix (RDM), that is, the basis in which the stationary RDM is diagonal. It is shown that, under an initial condition composed of sufficiently many energy eigenstates of the total system, such a basis is given by the eigenbasis of a renormalized self-Hamiltonian of the system, in the limit of large Hilbert space of the environment. Here, the renormalized self-Hamiltonian is given by the unperturbed self-Hamiltonian plus a certain averag…
