Decoherence and transfer of quantum states of field modes in a one-dimensional cavity with an oscillating boundary

Abstract

We study the evolution of Wigner functions of arbitrary initial quantum states of field modes in a one-dimensional ideal cavity, whose boundary performs small harmonic oscillations at the frequency ωW = pω1 (where ω1 is the fundamental field eigenfrequency). Special attention is paid to the case of initial even and odd coherent states, which serve as models of the 'Schrodinger cat states'. We show that the strong intermode interaction (due to the Doppler upshift of the fields reflected from the oscillating mirror) results in the decoherence of initial quantum superpositions in selected modes, even in the absence of any external 'environment'. Different quantitative measures of decoherence are discussed. The analytical solutions obtained show that any initial state of the field goes asymptotically to a highly mixed and moderately squeezed state in the 'principal resonance case' p = 2 and to the vacuum state in the 'semiresonance case' p = 1. It is shown that the decoherence process has several stages. In the first one, the interference between the components of the initial superposition is rapidly destroyed during the time of the primary decoherence, which is inversely proportional to the first power of the initial distance between the components, as opposed to the second power in the case of usual dissipative reservoirs. However, some weak traces of coherence (quantumness of states), such as the regions of negativity of the Wigner function, survive for much longer times, which do not depend on the size of the initial superposition.