If one analyzes the effects of electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations upon an electron interference pattern in an approximation in which the electrons follow classical trajectories, an ultraviolet divergence results. It is shown that this divergence is an artifact of the classical trajectory approximation, and is absent when the finite sizes of electron wavepackets are accounted for. It is shown that the vacuum fluctuation effect has a logarithmic dependence upon the wavepacket size. However, at least in one model geometry, this dependence cancels when one includes both vacuum fluctuation and photon emission effects.
We investigate the interplay between gravity and the quantum coherence present in the state of a pulse of light propagating in curved spacetime. We first introduce an operational way to distinguish between the overall shift in the pulse wavepacket and its genuine deformation after propagation. We then apply our technique to quantum states of photons that are coherent in the frequency degree of freedom, as well as to states of completely incoherent light. We focus on Gaussian profiles and frequency combs and find that the quantum coherence initially present can enhance the deformation induced b…
In this paper, a protocol is proposed in which energy extraction from local vacuum states is possible by using quantum measurement information for the vacuum state of quantum fields. In the protocol, Alice, who stays at a spatial point, excites the ground state of the fields by a local measurement. Consequently, wavepackects generated by A' measurement propagate the vacuum to spatial infinity. Let us assume that Bob stays away from Alice and fails to catch the excitation energy when the wavepackets pass in front of him. Next Alice announces her local measurement result to Bob by classical comm…
We observe the quantum coherent dynamics of atomic spinor wavepackets in the double well potentials of a far-off-resonance optical lattice. With appropriate initial conditions the system Rabi oscillates between the left and right localized states of the ground doublet, and at certain times the wavepacket corresponds to a coherent superposition of these mesoscopically distinguishable quantum states. The atom/optical double well potential is a flexible and powerful system for further study of mesoscopic quantum coherence, quantum control and the quantum/classical transition.
Probing Single-Particle Spatial Extent With Helical Neutron Wavefronts
University at Buffalo, State University of New York（纽约州立大学布法罗分校）；Institute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo（滑铁卢大学量子计算研究所）；Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo（滑铁卢大学物理与天文学系）；Joint Quantum Institute, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Maryland（美国国家标准与技术研究院与马里兰大学联合量子研究所）；Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo（滑铁卢大学化学系）；Department of Physics, University of Waterloo（滑铁卢大学物理系）；National Institute of Standards and Technology（美国国家标准与技术研究院）；ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory（鲁瑟福阿普尔顿实验室 ISIS 中子与缪子源）
We study the effects of the electromagnetic subvacuum fluctuations on the dynamics of a nonrelativistic charged particle in a wavepacket. The influence from the quantum field is expected to give an additional effect to the velocity uncertainty of the particle. In the case of a static wavepacket, the observed velocity dispersion is smaller in the electromagnetic squeezed vacuum background than in the normal vacuum background. This leads to the subvacuum effect. The extent of reduction in velocity dispersion associated with this subvacuum effect is further studied by introducing a switching func…
Do the wavepacket-size of free-electron wavefunction and its history have physical effect in its interaction with light? Here we answer this problem by analyzing a QED model, considering both spontaneous and stimulated emission of quantized radiation field. For coherent radiation (Glauber state), we confirm that stimulated emission/absorption of photons has a dependence on wavepacket size that decays when it exceeds the interacting radiation wavelength, consistently and complementarily with Schrodinger equation analysis of wavepacket acceleration in classical electromagnetic field. Furthermore…
One of the biggest problems faced by those attempting to combine quantum theory and general relativity is the experimental inaccessibility of the unification scale. In this paper we show how incoherent conformal waves in the gravitational field, which may be produced by quantum mechanical zero-point fluctuations, interact with the wavepackets of massive particles. The result of this interaction is to produce decoherence within the wavepackets which could be accessible in experiments at the atomic scale. Using a simple model for the coherence properties of the gravitational field we derive an e…
Tunneling of a two-state particle through a squeezed vacuum is considered. It has been shown that repetitive measurement or interaction with the external field can preserve the coherence. Moreover, the coherence time in terms of the squeezing parameters has been calculated. A specific condition is derived, under which the coherence is sustainable.
We present new experimental implications of the effects of vacuum induced coherence on the photon -photon correlation in the pi-polarized fluorescence in j = 1/2 to j = 1/2 transition. These effects should be thus observable in measurements of photon statistics in for example Hg and Ba ion traps.
We propose a simple test to demonstrate and detect the presence of vacuum inducde coherence in a $Λ$-system. We show that the probe field absorption is modulated due to the presence of such a coherence which is unobservable in fluorescence. We present analytical and numerical results for the modulated absorption, the cosine and sine components of which display different types of behavior.
We describe spontaneous parametric down-conversion experiments in which induced coherence across two coupled interferometers results in high-visibility single-photon interference. Opening additional photon channels allows "which-path" information and reduces the visibility of the singlephoton interference, but results in nearly perfect visibility when photons are counted in coincidence. A simplified theoretical model accounts for these complementary observations and attributes them directly to the relations among the vacuum fields at the different crystals.
In the framework of open quantum systems, we study the dynamics of a static polarizable two-level atom interacting with a bath of fluctuating vacuum electromagnetic field and explore under which conditions the coherence of the open quantum system is unaffected by the environment totally. For both a single-qubit and two-qubit systems, we find that the quantum coherence can not be protected from noise when the atom interacts with a non-boundary electromagnetic field. However, with the presence of a boundary, the dynamical conditions for the insusceptible of quantum coherence are fulfilled only w…
We show that radiative coupling between two multilevel atoms having near-degenerate states can produce new interference effects in spontaneous emission. We explicitly demonstrate this possibility by considering two identical V systems each having a pair of transition dipole matrix elements which are orthogonal to each other. We discuss in detail the origin of the new interference terms and their consequences. Such terms lead to the evolution of certain coherences and excitations which would not occur otherwise. The special choice of the orientation of the transition dipole matrix elements enab…
Vacuum induced coherence in a strongly coupled cavity consisting of a three-level system is studied theoretically. The effects of the strong coupling to electromagnetic field vacuum are examined by solution of an open-system quantum master equation. The numerical results show that the system exhibits population trapping, and the numerical results are interpreted with analytical expressions derived from a new basis in the weak excitation regime. We further show that the generated effects can be probed with weak external fields. Moreover, it is shown that the induced coherence can be controlled …
We theoretically investigate how population can be trapped in the excited doublet in presence of vacuum-induced coherence (VIC). We employ delayed pulses to transfer population from a metastable state to the excited states. Subsequently, spontaneous emission from the excited doublet builds coherence between them. This coherence can be probed by using chirping, which leads to the decoupling of the excited doublet from the ground state thereby ensuring population transfer via delayed pulses. Our results indicate that the existence of VIC leads to the generation of a mixed state in the excited st…
The squeezing spectrum of the fluorescence field emitted from a four-level atom in $J=1/2$ to $J=1/2$ configuration driven by two coherent fields is studied. We find that the squeezing properties of the fluorescence radiation are significantly influenced by the presence of vacuum-induced coherence in the atomic system. It is shown that such coherence induces spectral squeezing in phase quadratures of the fluorescence light for both weak and strong driving fields. The dependence of the squeezing spectrum on the relative phase of the driving fields is also investigated. Effects such as enhanceme…
The existence of vacuum fluctuations is one of the most important predictions of modern quantum field theory. In the vacuum state, fluctuations occurring at different frequencies are uncorrelated. However, if a parameter in the Lagrangian of the field is modulated by an external pump, vacuum fluctuations stimulate spontaneous downconversion processes, creating squeezing between modes symmetric with respect to half of the frequency of the pump. Here we show that by double parametric pumping of a superconducting microwave cavity, it is possible to generate another fundamental type of correlation…
The influence of electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations in the presence of the perfectly conducting plate on electrons is studied with an interference experiment. The evolution of the reduced density matrix of the electron is derived by the method of influence functional. We find that the plate boundary anisotropically modifies vacuum fluctuations that in turn affect the electron coherence. The path plane of the interference is chosen either parallel or normal to the plate. In the vicinity of the plate, we show that the coherence between electrons due to the boundary is enhanced in the parallel c…
The resonance fluorescence of a four-level atom in J = 1/2 to J = 1/2 transition driven by two coherent fields is studied. We find that the incoherent fluorescence spectrum shows a direct indication of vacuum-induced coherence in the atomic system. We show that such coherence manifests itself via an enhancement or suppression of the spectral peaks in the $π$-polarized fluorescence. The effect of the relative phase of the driving fields on the spectral features is also investigated. We show that phase-dependent enhancement or suppression of the fluorescence peaks appears in the incoherent spect…
We investigate theoretically the effects of vacuum-induced coherence (VIC) on magneto-optical rotation (MOR). We carry out a model study to show that VIC in the presence of a control laser and a magnetic field can lead to large enhancement in the rotation of the plane of polarization of a linearly polarized weak laser with vanishing circular dichroism. This effect can be realized in cold molecular gases and may be used as a sensitive probe for VIC. Such a large MOR angle can also be used to detect weak magnetic field with large measurement sensitivity.
The control of light-matter interaction at the quantum level usually requires coherent laser fields. But already an exchange of virtual photons with the electromagnetic vacuum field alone can lead to quantum coherences, which subsequently suppress spontaneous emission. We demonstrate such spontaneously generated coherences (SGC) in a large ensemble of nuclei operating in the x-ray regime, resonantly coupled to a common cavity environment. The observed SGC originates from two fundamentally different mechanisms related to cooperative emission and magnetically controlled anisotropy of the cavity …
The dynamics of entanglement between three - level atoms coupled to the common vacuum is investigated. We show that the collective effects such as collective damping, dipole - dipole interaction and the cross coupling between orthogonal dipoles, play a crucial role in the process of creation of entanglement. In particular, the additional cross coupling enhances the production of entanglement. For the specific initial states we find that the effect of delayed sudden birth of entanglement, recently invented by Ficek and Tanas [Phys. Rev. A 77, o54301(2008)] in the case of two - level atoms, can …
Single photon first order interferences of spatially separated regions from the cone structure of spontaneous parametric down conversion allow for analyzing the role of the mode function in quantum optics. In earlier experiments the role of the vacuum fields could be demonstrated in induced coherence experiments as the source of complementarity \cite{Heu14}. Here the spatial coherence properties of these vacuum fields are measured and as the physical reason for complementarity in single photon quantum optics demonstrated.
Attenuating a quantum state using a beam splitter will introduce noise and decoherence. Here we show that heralding techniques can be used to attenuate Schrödinger cat states and squeezed vacuum states without any noise or decoherence [Mičuda et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 180503 (2012)]. Noiseless attenuation also preserves quantum interference effects in nonclassical states such as squeezed vacuum states.
Quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic vacuum are responsible for physical effects such as the Casimir force and the radiative decay of atoms, and set fundamental limits on the sensitivity of measurements. Entanglement between photons can produce correlations that result in a reduction of these fluctuations below the vacuum level allowing measurements that surpass the standard quantum limit in sensitivity. Here we demonstrate that the radiative decay rate of an atom that is coupled to quadrature squeezed electromagnetic vacuum can be reduced below its natural linewidth. We observe a two-f…
Spontaneous emission can create coherences in a multilevel atom having close lying levels, subject to the condition that the atomic dipole matrix elements are non-orthogonal. This condition is rarely met in atomic systems. We report the possibility of bypassing this condition and thereby creating coherences by letting the atom with orthogonal dipoles to interact with the vacuum of a pre-selected polarized cavity mode rather than the free space vacuum. We derive a master equation for the reduced density operator of a model four level atomic system, and obtain its analytical solution to describe…
The dynamics of a free charged particle, initially described by a coherent wave packet, interacting with an environment, i.e. the electromagnetic field characterized by a temperature $T$, is studied. Using the dipole approximation the exact expressions for the evolution of the reduced density matrix both in momentum and configuration space and the vacuum and the thermal contribution to decoherence, are obtained. The time behaviour of the coherence lengths in the two representations are given. Through the analysis of the dynamic of the field structure associated to the particle the vacuum contr…
The resonance fluorescence emitted by a system of two dipole-dipole interacting nearby four-level atoms in J=1/2 - J=1/2 configuration is studied. This setup is the simplest realistic model system which provides a complete description of the (interatomic) dipole-dipole interaction for arbitrary orientation of the interatomic distance vector, and at the same time allows for intraatomic spontaneously generated coherences. We discuss different methods to analyze the contribution of the various vacuum-induced coupling constants to the total resonance fluorescence spectrum. These allow us to find a…
Non-Gaussian operations on two mode squeezed vacuum states (TMSV) in continuous variable measurement device independent quantum key distribution (CV-MDI-QKD) protocols have been shown to effectively increase the total transmission distances drastically. In this paper we show that photon subtraction on a two mode squeezed coherent (PSTMSC) state can further improve the transmission distances remarkably. To that end we also provide a generalized covariance matrix corresponding to PSTMSC, which has not been attempted before. We show that coherence, defined as the amount of displacement of vacuum …
In the last few years, the great utility of PT-symmetric systems in sensing small perturbations has been recognized. Here, we propose an alternate method relevant to dissipative systems, especially those coupled to the vacuum of the electromagnetic fields. In such systems, which typically show anti-PT symmetry and do not require the incorporation of gain, vacuum induces coherence between two modes. Owing to this coherence, the linear response acquires a pole on the real axis. We demonstrate how this coherence can be exploited for the enhanced sensing of very weak anhamonicities at low pumping …
We show that the vacuum of electromagnetic field has intrinsic partial spatial coherence in frequency domain which effectively extends over regions of the order of wavelength $λ$. This spatial coherence leads to a dynamical coupling between atoms and is the cause of source correlations and Wolf shifts. We show how the source spatial correlations can lead to tailor made coherent emissions. We discuss the universality of source correlation effects and presents several application.
We study the dynamical Casimir effect in the presence of a finite coherence time, which is associated with a finite quality factor of the optical cavity. We use the time refraction model, where a fixed cavity with a modulated optical medium, replaces the empty cavity with a vibrating mirror. Temporal coherence is described with the help of cavity quasi-mode operators. Asymptotic expressions for the number of photon pairs generated from vacuum are derived.
The ability to trap and guide coherent electrons is gaining importance in fundamental as well as in applied physics. In this regard novel quantum devices are currently developed that may operate under low vacuum conditions. Here we study the loss of electron coherence with increasing background gas pressure. Thereby, optionally helium, hydrogen or nitrogen is introduced in a biprism interferometer where the interference contrast is a measure for the coherence of the electrons. The results indicate a constant contrast that is not decreasing in the examined pressure range between $10^{-9}$ mbar …
Decay parameter of coherence and population inversion are calculated from the master equation of a two level atom tunneling through a squeezed vacuum. Using those parameters, the timescales for decoherence and zeno effect are calculated in the weak measurement scheme. By comparing those timescales, a certain condition has been found for sustainable coherent dynamics.
The Sauter-Schwinger process of electron-positron pair creation from vacuum, driven by a sequence of time-dependent electric-field pulses, is studied in the framework of quantum-field theoretical approach. As demonstrated by our numerical results, the probability distributions of produced pairs exhibit intra- and inter-pulse interference structures. We show that such structures can be observed beyond the regime of applicability of the WKB theory, which was the focus of earlier investigations. Going beyond these developments, we perform the analysis of the time-evolution operator for an arbitra…
Quantum frequency conversion, the process of shifting the frequency of an optical quantum state while preserving quantum coherence, can be used to produce non-classical light at otherwise unapproachable wavelengths. We present experimental results based on highly efficient sum-frequency generation (SFG) between a vacuum squeezed state at 1064 nm and a tunable pump source at 850 nm $\pm$ 50 nm for the generation of bright squeezed light at 472~nm $\pm$ 4~nm, currently limited by the phase-matching of the used nonlinear crystal. We demonstrate that the SFG process conserves part of the quantum c…
We study the effect of coherent and incoherent broadening on neutrino oscillations both in vacuum and in the presence of matter (the MSW effect). We show under very general assumptions that it is not possible to distinguish experimentally neutrinos produced in some region of space as wave packets from those produced in the same region of space as plane waves with the same energy distribution.
Silicon is undoubtedly one of the most promising semiconductor materials for spin-based information processing devices. Its highly advanced fabrication technology facilitates the transition from individual devices to large-scale processors, and the availability of an isotopically-purified $^{28}$Si form with no magnetic nuclei overcomes what is a main source of spin decoherence in many other materials. Nevertheless, the coherence lifetimes of electron spins in the solid state have typically remained several orders of magnitude lower than what can be achieved in isolated high-vacuum systems suc…
